Stray Kids Oneshots

He thinks he's a bad dad after his son gets injured / Lee Minho

Warning!
This fanfiction contains description of injury and could be upsetting to some. If you don't do well with the mention of blood I don't recommend reading.
Thank you, Stay.TS

Originally Posted: November 14th, 2022 on Instagram

P.O.V Minho
"Jae be careful!" I picked up my four year old son as I watched him attempt to jump from one of the arm chairs to the couch. He had been hyper and playful all day, insisting on climbing all over our furniture and running around the house.

Y/N was out with her mom for the day and I was left all alone with Jae at home. Trying to juggle being an idol and being a father was hard and it was something I never really got used to. I tried my best, really I did, but sometimes I thought my best wasn't good enough.

"Sorry Appa!" Jae giggled as I put him on the floor. He flashed me his adorable sparkling eyes and I instantly felt myself melt. He was so cute, how could I stay upset at him?

I sighed and ruffled his brown hair.

"It's okay, just please be careful."

I left Jae to continue playing as I tried to get some housework done. I wanted Y/N to come home to a clean house since she does so much for me this is the one thing I could do for her in return.

I was getting a load of laundry to put into the washer when all of a sudden I heard a loud crash followed by the shrill, blood-curdling scream of my young son. I dropped the basket of clothes immediately and ran out to him. My heart was pounding in my ears and my adrenaline was so high I felt like I was moving at lightning speed.

What I saw horrified me as a father. My son, my four year old son, had blood dripping down his left side of his face. He had his hands pressed against the gash on his forehead but it didn't do much to stop it. The red liquid had already ran down his face and was beginning to soak the collar of his shirt.

"APPA!" He shrieked through a sob that could shatter glass. I panicked and quickly picked him up from the floor and took him to the bathroom, sitting him on the counter. I wet a towel and gently guided his hands away from his forehead. There was so much blood surrounding the cut that I couldn't even tell how deep it was. I internally started to freak out but I knew that I had to stay calm or it would just upset Jae even more.

Quickly I cleaned the wound and got him a clean towel to hold against it while I took him to the hospital. Jae cried the entire way there and I felt absolutely horrible for letting him cry and scream the way he did but I didn't know how to calm him down.

We didn't wait very long to be seen by a nurse once we got in the emergency room. I had called Y/N when we had left the house and she was there by the time we got there. Jae started to calm down once Y/N came in the room.

"It's okay baby, momma's here!" She wiped the tears that were still streaming down his face and kissed the top of his head. The little boy sniffled and his bottom lip quivered but he refrained from screaming anymore, opting to cry in silence instead.

The nurse did confirm to us that Jae was going to need stitches, which I kinda suspected from the beginning. I was thankful that it was only a minor cut and that he didn't fracture his skull of anything super serious. After stitching the wound the doctor said that we were good to go home and to just keep an eye on him for any odd behavior.

I took Jae home with me while Y/N go picked up some food for dinner since it was later in the evening and we hadn't made anything because of our unplanned hospital trip. Jae was exhausted after everything that had happened and fell asleep pretty quickly that night, but I had troubles being able to put my mind to rest.

"Honey," Y/N's voice was soft, "it's late. What are you still doing up?"

I was sitting at the foot of Jae's bed, just watching him sleep. I had been in here since I put him to bed a few hours prior, I couldn't bring myself to leave him. Upon not receiving an answer, Y/N made her way into the room and sat down next to me. She placed her hand on my shoulder and my breathing hitched in my throat.

"He could've been seriously hurt today. It would've been all my fault." Tears stung my eyes and it suddenly felt hard to breathe as I thought about every possible scenario of how things could've turned out that day.

"Min, it's nobody's fault. Accidents happen all the time." "But I'm his father! The one thing I should be able to do is keep him safe! What good am I if I can't even do that!"

My teary eyes met my wife's and immediately her gaze became soft and warm like a favorite blanket that just came out of the dryer. She pulled me into her embrace and buried my head into her neck. The collar of the tee shirt she wore to sleep was almost immediately soaked with my tears. The smell of her perfume lingered on her skin, that mixed with the small circles she rubbed onto my back was enough to provide a calming presence but it wasn't enough to make me feel better entirely.

"I know how you're feeling right now. I felt that way when we brought him home from the hospital and I couldn't get him to stop crying. I still feel that way every time he gets sad, or sick, or a slight bruise. But I have to remind myself that he's a little kid, he's bound to have these things happen to him at some point. It's apart of growing up. I know that you love him and you want to protect him, but we can't shelter him from everything that could hurt him or it's just going to hurt him more."

I listened intently to her words.

"Do you know how I know you're a good father?"

"How?"

"Because you put him first today. When he got hurt you made sure he was okay and prioritized getting him help before you called me. You've always put him first Minho. When he got sick before you went on tour, you stayed here with him until he got better. You take off work for every soccer game. You support whatever he decides he wants to do, one hundred percent, no questions asked. You have loved that little boy since before he was born and you always work hard to make sure he knows it. He talks about you all the time, ya know? He tells his friends that you're a superhero."

I started crying again, not because I was upset, but because I was happy. Relieved even. I always felt that I wasn't doing enough as a father or a husband and I always tried to make up for it in whatever way I could. I knew that Y/N understood me and my work but I always feared that Jae was too young and he would think that I didn't love him because I wasn't always able to be around. But hearing my wife's words I knew, my son did know how much I love him and how much I care about him.

I looked at the little boy fast asleep in his bed and a smile came to my face. He was truly, the best thing in my life.