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Hyunjin was bouncing up and down in the corner of the shop, looking through the clothes displayed in front of him.
As he watched his 11 years old son, the moment felt precious to the busy father that Chan was. It wasn't often that he could be alone with only one of his sons. It wasn't often either that he would find himself out without a sasaeng or two runing after him and his sons.
The boy's small ups and downs made his dark middle length hair bounce. Chan needed to try to get the boy's hair cut at the company again before they started to fully block his sight. But at the same time he remembered how the last time they had tried to cut the boy's hair the hair stylist had given up after 5 minutes of the tween shooting his lungs out and it made him wince. He could just hope next time would be better.
Hyunjin was not especially verbal today but he kept on humming, an oral stim that he often did in public to calm himself.
He saw some clothes he liked in front of him but today wasn't a safe day for him to touch things he wasn't sure about the texture so he just refrained from touching anything.
"Hey, Prince, you ok? You've been standing here for quite a few minutes."
He pointed at a pink velvet shirt he could see at the other side of the shop that he didn't dare move close to.
"Do you want to go see it?"
A small nod was everything the father needed to grab his son's sleeve, careful not to grab his hand or wrist if it wasn't explicitly given to him.
Chan took the shirt off the rack and felt the very soft velvet gliding on his digits. And no matter if the thing looked quite revealing with a rather large v-neck, the man didn't mind buying it for his son if the young fashionista found something with a fabric that didn't set off his sensory issues.
"I find it very pretty too but first you gotta be able to touch it, alright?"
The kid nodded, lifting his hand out to touch the soft fabric. As soon as he reached for the thing a shiver ran down his skin, it wasn't a bad thing it was a pleasurable shiver somewhat but he shook his head 'no', that shirt would be too much to bear for more than a few hours.
"Alright, you can find something else you'd like."
He let his eyes scan over the rest of the articles in front of him. A piece of clothing stood out in the whole. It was a sort of zipper jacket that looked kinda like a sports jacket, royal blue with traditional flowers and designs drawn onto and two white ribbons on each sleeve. It was visibly made of a silky fabric. When Hyunjin looked around it, he saw an assorted skirt, the way the light reflected on it made it look even shinier than the jacket.
His hand reached out for the soft thing but he refrained from touching it at the last moment, he'd never had a skirt on before and wondered what his Dad would think about it.
"You like that jacket, Jinnie?"
He nodded, his eyes glued to the skirt. The jacket was pretty but the skirt looked even prettier and he knew he'd love its shape and its texture just by looking at it.
"What about trying it on?", the father said to his son.
Hyunjin took the jacket that was handed to him in the right size (which meant exactly two sizes bigger than his actual size).
He was humming louder than before and buzzing a little bit along with it but it wasn't anything bad, just excitement. He liked the way the jacket felt and he liked the way it looked on him over his purple hoodie.
They stayed in the shop 10 more minutes before Chan said they'd have to go soon to be at home before each of Hyunjin's brothers would come back.
Hyunjin couldn't stop looking back at where the skirt was. Chan noticed after a few minutes and wondered why his boy kept looking around where the jackets stood.
"Jinnie, is there something else you'd want from here? You can have anything you want, you did wonderful today at the doctor and I know how bad it must have felt to get your cast off."
Chan could see that bringing back the beginning of the afternoon into conversation made the boy tense. The cast removal had been as awful as the other times before, no matter if Hyunjin wore ear defenders over his custom made noise cancelling ear plugs, the noise was awful and the vibration of the saw made him feel sick in the stomach, triggering some gagging reactions. It always felt awful but with how prone to catastrophes Hyunjin was ... well, getting casts on and off happened to him somewhat often.
"So? Will that jacket be all, Prince?"
He hesitated before pointing out where the skirts were.
"Please?", he tentatively said, unsure.
"Of course, what is it?"
He took the skirt in hand and showed it out, head falling down as he didn't dare look at his father's face.
"Oh, wow, I hadn't seen it, of course we have to take it otherwise you won't have the complete outfit. Let's go to the changing room so you can try it on?", Chan said with a big smile.
Hyunjin skipped toward the changing room. The excitement he felt from being allowed to get his skirt was too big to stay inside his body.
It didn't take him long to get his pants off and try on the silky skirt, only problem was that with his arm just out of the cast he couldn't zip it up so Chan helped him out.
Chan could see happiness on his son's face and couldn't help but wonder how long and how much confidence he had needed to bring together to ask for that skirt.
The boy was flapping his good hand happily. He didn't want to take the skirt off now that it was on him and when Chan brought up that they needed to pay for it, he growled a little, a disappointed pout forming on his lips.
The dad couldn't stand refusing something that meaningless to his son after all it wasn't such a big deal to keep clothes he'd buy on. He folded the boy's pants and went to grab the exact same skirt from the shelves to bring it to the cashier.
Of course he had forgotten about the security tag. And as soon as the salesperson brought it up he knew Hyunjin would start to meltdown, things weren't going like Chan said it would go and that was probably one of the worst thing that could happen right at the moment : things not going the way Hyunjin had seen it in his head.
Chan gently dragged Hyunjin back to the same changing room stall he'd used earlier. He explained his new plan to the boy that had a hard time listening as things were spiraling in his head. Today wasn't a good day and rational thinking didn't go well with meltdowns.
"When I come back with it you can both wear the jacket and the skirt, fine?"
He nodded. Being asked to stay in the stall for a few minutes was fine. He could stand it for a few minutes. He took out his phone and started to tap onto the screen reaching for a calming game he had downloaded in it.
He stood there rocking slightly back and fourth and playing. Soon enough Chan was back with his new outfit.
He couldn't wait getting it on and to go back home. Home would be safer than the shop after such a day. There'd be no bad lighting at home and no loud music, no crowds, no bad feeling ...
Hyunjin exited the changing room. Dressed prettily in blue and purple. After another load of compliments from his Dad, the tween boy lifted his hand, offering it to Chan. It wasn't so often that he would seek for physical contact that weren't tight hugs especially out in public but he felt safe and happy that his Dad loved his skirt as much as he did and that alone made all the challenges of the day worth it.
When he came back home he was more than excited to twirl for his Appa and to show his new outfit to his brothers.
Hyunjin arrived home unexpectedly happy. Changbin knew how bad decasting days were and he expected the boy to be crying when he arrive home. He was even preparing a safe meal with separate ingredients for tonight as he knew it would usually help.
Needless to say the brand new outfit his son was wearing made him smile big.
"I see that you two had fun shopping. Nice skirt, Jinnie."
The kid giggled, happy with his father's comment. He couldn't wait for his brothers to be home.