Work Text:
1
Organized chaos is what Jeongin, Seungmin and Felix would call the current atmosphere in their dorm. There’s a pile of shoes, bags and way too many jackets in the entry. On the bathroom shelves a variety of empty bottles, shampoos and other cremes. The kitchen counter is cluttered with dirty dishes and the living room looks like a hurricane went through it. The floor is covered in blocks, cars, pens and other toys, on the small table is a puddle of whatever liquid was spilled there, the sofa cushions are on the ground as well as several blankets and in the middle of all that chaos sits Minho, happily stacking blocks to a tower and oblivious to the mess around him.
Under normal circumstances Minho would probably get a heart attack if he sees the condition their dorm is in but lucky for him and probably also lucky for the other three people living there, he currently couldn’t care less about their dorm. As of now Stray Kids are in their second week of their two-week long break and for the last two days Minho had been little. The three youngest members were over the moon, happy to look after the little and to spend as much time with him as possible but maybe just neglecting the cleaning part slightly in the process.
The little hadn’t chosen a main caregiver yet, feeling quite confident around all of the members and mostly happy as long as someone is there to cuddle or play with him. Nevertheless, everyone is secretly only waiting for the boy to decide on one. The 3Racha + Hyunjin dorm is convinced, that’s it’s going to be Felix or one of the other two members in Minho’s dorm simply because they spent the most time with him when little, guessing that Minho would probably feel more drawn towards them. Seungmin on the other hand is sure that it’s going to be Jisung. During the last weeks he had been noticing how the little started to act slightly different around the rapper but upon trying to explain his observation to the rest of the boys, no one seemed to believe him and with that his comment fell into oblivion again.
Currently Seungmin is peacefully watching Minho play on the ground while swiping through his phone when the silence is interrupted by a loud shout, “GUYSSSS??”. Startled by the sudden noise not only he but also the little flinch, while Seungmin catches himself rather quickly again, the little is so startled that he promptly knocks his tower over. Staring at the scattered blocks which previously belonged to his beautiful tower, his bottom lip already starts dangerously wobbling and with big eyes he looks up at the boy on the couch. But before the little has the chance to start crying, Felix comes running in the living room, wildly gesticulating and seemingly quite stressed.
“The others are coming over in an hour!” – “Okay?” - “Have you seen how the dorm looks like?! Chan will never leave us alone with little-Min again if he sees this mess!” Felix nearly screams in Seungmin’s face while waving his arms around as if he wants to prove his point.
“Shit” comes the answer from Seungmin after he glances around the room, “well, yes shit! You can clean up the living room with Min and get him ready while me and Innie are going to clean the kitchen and the rest, okay?” not even waiting for an answer, Felix is already rushing out of the room, screaming for Jeongin and then back in the direction of the living room that they should hurry.
“Shit?”, horrified Seungmin looks at Minho, who is still pouting at his blocks but apparently now learned a new phrase on how to describe the destruction of his tower. Oh, Chan is so going to kill them. Deciding to ignore that for now, he only turns towards the boy and encourages him to collect his toys before he starts to clean the bigger mess in the room. After putting back the sofa cushions, folding the blankets and collecting the empty snack bags the room already starts to look slightly better but glancing back at the little he finds him still sitting exactly in the same spot as before and with a new tower already halfway there.
“Minnie, it’s time to clean up a bit, you can finish your tower after that” - “nooo need to finish tower now and Lixie broke it!” comes the whiny response from the little, technically it wasn’t actually Felix who broke the tower but Seungmin is not one to start an argument over that now.
“Okay let’s clean up and then Felix can help you build a new tower, how does that sound?” Minho seems to be thinking about the suggestion for a few seconds before nodding and turning away from his blocks towards the rest of his toys. Relieved that there isn’t a new argument, Seungmin places the empty box, where his toys belong in, next to the boy and continues to collect the different plates, mugs and glasses which somehow never got returned to the kitchen over the last days.
He doesn’t get very far, because when he steps back in the living room, he finds Minho still at his spot on the ground but now very concentrated on the figurines of a dinosaur, a horse and a dolphin. How these three things go together is beyond his imagination but the little seems to have a detailed story he’s currently acting out. At least there are already four things in Minho’s toy box.
Accepting that the little clearly isn’t very interested in cleaning up, Seungmin sighs and decides to just let him be until the living room looks presentable and it’s time for him to get changed as well as washed up. After a few more trips to the kitchen or other rooms, from which objects could be found there, only Minho’s toys are left. Glancing at the time on his phone he doesn’t ask the little again and begins to collect the toys himself.
Maybe he should have taken the box away from its current spot because every time the little sees a new thing being added in the box, he immediately grabs it wanting to play with it and forgetting the item he had previously in his hand. As a consequence, the toys which had been scattered around the room are now piled up around Minho and so Seungmin takes the first things he sees, scoops them up and places them in the box. It gets very quickly very clear that the little is not too happy about this.
He’s been already quite whiny and grumpy after his first tower got knocked over, then he was told to clean up, which is not his favorite task in general and to make everything worse, each new toy he wants to play with gets taken away from him and wanders into the box. Seungmin only manages to collect a few more items before the little lets out an unhappy sound and reaches his arm right back into the box.
“Baby, come one” he sighs “the others are coming over and we want them to be proud, don’t we?” Minho drops the car he was holding and looks at the boy who is trying to steal his toys, “Sungie?” – “Yes, Jisung as well, I’m sure you can play with him too but before that we need everything to be clean”.
“Otay, Minnie clean” to Seungmin’s surprise the boy picks the car back up and drops it into the box, “Minnie make hyungies pwoud, make Sungie pwoud”.
If Seungmin had known, that mentioning Jisung is all it takes to get the little to clean up he would have done so right in the beginning. But he didn’t, which leaves him quite surprised when he sees how Minho starts picking up his other toys without protesting again and drops them in the box. He smirks and makes a mental note to share his new found knowledge with the rest of the members but for now making the dorm presentable is the main goal.
2
For the whole week, the weather has been amazing and with each passing day Minho wanted nothing more than to slip and play outside in their small garden with one of his caregivers. So, it’s not a surprise when Minho wakes up little, way too early for a Saturday morning and doesn’t hesitate to jump on Jeongin’s bed, which is the closest room to his own, with a loud laugh and shouts, also way too loud, that the other one needs to wake up right this second.
Jeongin only groans, it’s not the first time he gets woken up like this and through the last several times this has happened he learned how to at least get a few more minutes of rest. With one trained move he scoops the little up and maneuvers him next to himself under the blankets. Minho lets out a surprised noise and finds himself securely in the arms of Jeongin, gently cuddled against his chest.
“Come here you little monster” Jeongin laughs at the little, before tucking him a bit closer and running a hand through the little’s hair. Realizing that it is in fact really comfortable and warm under the blankets, he decides that playtime can wait a few more minutes.
Well, a few more minutes means exactly ten minutes, before he starts squirming in Jeongin’s arms, “wanna play outside, Innie, pwease play with me outside”, the addressed boy, who had fallen asleep again only hums before letting out a big breath. The little stares at the boy next to him, was that his answer? No, that can’t be right. He wants to go play outside in the sun as soon as possible and why is Innie still sleeping?
Carefully he presses one of his fingers in the cheek of the other one, no reaction. Next is the nose, which only leads to a slight scrunch and the turning of his head. Why won’t he wake up? Minho glances at the mouth of Jeongin and with one final decision he reaches out and pushes two of his fingers directly in the mouth of the poor boy next to him. Immediately Jeongin’s eyes open and he shoots up into a sitting position, looking slightly shocked at the little.
“Pway now?” Minho asks while looking innocently through the room.
Instead of answering Jeongin reaches for his phone to check the time. 7:30 am. Well, to be fair he has to get up in half an hour anyways and there’s no way he can fall back asleep with little-Minho terrorizing his face. The moment, Minho sees Jeongin slightly nodding in his direction he scrambles out of the bed and starts jumping through the room. Where does the boy even get this much energy from?
“Shhh Minnie, we can go get ready together but you need to be quiet, okay? We don’t want to wake up the rest”, knowing the little, there is no way that he can stay quiet, not with how excited he already seems to be, so he thinks for a second before continuing, “if you’re extra quiet we can go play a lot faster”, they certainly won’t be any faster but the little doesn’t seem to question the logic of that statement.
While getting himself and the little ready he quickly sends a message in their group chat, asking if someone in the other dorm is already awake. When there isn’t an answer in the next few minutes Jeongin starts to get worried, he would have to leave in an hour because he promised his parents to visit over the weekend. Felix had already announced that he wanted to sleep in, so there’s no way he would wake him up and Seungmin had started a new drama yesterday, which means that he probably stayed up way too long watching it. In the worst case he would just bring Minho to the other dorm and wake one of them up, that should be fine.
Getting the little dressed is a whole new story. The boy is so excited about finally getting to play outside, that he doesn’t stop moving. Two times his arms get stuck in the wrong hole of his T-Shirt and then Jeongin needs another five minutes in order to convince him to switch his pajama pants to regular shorts, just because the previous pants had little stars on them and the new shorts don’t.
And finally, after what feels like an eternity for the little and a whole workout for Jeongin they are both ready. In the meantime, Changbin had answered in the group chat, which means he can bring Minho over to the other dorm without causing any trouble or disrupting the sleep of someone. He grabs his bag in one hand and reaches for Minho’s hand with his other one and after looking at the boy, who’s probably even more excited and energetic than before, he unlocks the door and they step outside.
“Let’s go. You can play with Changbin hyung in a few minutes” – “Binnie?”, the little seems confused about why Jeongin’s not playing with him as well but it’s quickly forgotten again when they reach the other dorm and Changbin is waiting for them with open arms and a big smile.
“Ohhhhh look who’s here” Changbin coos while nearly swallowing the little in his arms, “a little birdie told me that we are going in the garden today, is that right?”. Hearing the word garden, the little nods furiously and starts tugging Changbin in the direction of the back door. He doesn’t get very far because Changbin just picks him up and turns back to Jeongin who’s still standing in the door.
Even if he doesn’t want to, Minho is forced to stay in the arms of Changbin, while they say goodbye to the maknae and wish him a nice time with his parents. And then, finally, the front door gets closed and Changbin starts walking in the direction of the back door leading to their garden.
For the next thirty minutes, Changbin’s only task is to throw a bright red ball over and over again in Minho’s direction and watch with fond eyes how the little starts chasing after it, before kicking it back towards him. The whole play is accompanied by loud squealing, laughing and screaming and Changbin’s pretty sure that it will wake up everyone who wasn’t already awake by now. And he’s right, after three more throws Chan shuffles into the garden and immediately gets tackled into a big hug by Minho, the ball left forgotten on the ground.
“Oufffhh go easy on me Minnie” Chan huffs, “You have a lot of energy today, hm?”, from the corner of his eye he can see Changbin sighing and slightly nodding, apparently already exhausted after the thirty minutes in the garden. Well, he didn’t eat breakfast yet, so there’s his excuse. With how hyped the little seems to be there will surely be a lot of running around and getting some food as fuel in his body as well can’t be a bad idea, because he’s fairly certain that they didn’t eat breakfast over at the other dorm in the morning.
“How about I take care of making breakfast and you two can play for a few more minutes?”, Changbin suggests. Minho doesn’t hear his question, already concentrated on a small bug on the ground but after receiving a nod from Chan, he makes his way into the kitchen to start.
Chan on the other hand, stays with Minho and begins to watch how the little slowly crawls after the bug on the ground. Unsurprisingly, the little is bored by the slow pace of the insect rather quickly and instead starts to plug various flowers and weeds while explaining to the older one how he’s going to make a magic portion with them. Chan tries to look as calm as possible, while Minho takes apart their whole garden but he doesn’t have the heart to stop the boy, not when he’s crouching in the middle of a flower bed, looking at the colorful plants with a bright smile and seeming like the happiest person in the world.
Everything goes well until they hear Changbin calling that breakfast is ready and Chan takes the first step in Minho’s direction. Going inside would mean that playtime is over and the little just started playing… There’s no way that he’s leaving the garden.
The promise that he can go back outside, directly after eating something is also not enough and when Chan reaches out to take him by the hand, the little jumps up and dashes away from Chan. Promptly he stumbles over the ball, which was left forgotten in the middle of the grass, and falls face first on the ground, barely managing to lighten the fall with his arms.
For a few seconds there is absolute silence in the garden, then, as if the little just realized what actually happened, Chan sees him taking in a shuddering breath, then the first tear rolling down his face and lastly loud wails leaving his mouth. The garden certainly not quiet anymore.
Chan’s heart drops, already fearing the worst, without a second thought he runs towards the crying boy, drops next to him on the ground and starts searching for visible injuries, “hey, hey Minnie it’s okay, I’m here. Can you tell me where it hurts baby?”, the only response he gets are more cries and now the addition of small hiccups. He manages to get them both in a more comfortable positions, finally allowing him to see the blood running down his knee. It doesn’t look to deep or big but for the little the sight of the blood alone is enough to make the whole injury ten times worse.
“Okay, come here Minnie. Let me pick you up, hm?” Suddenly the thought of having to go inside doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore because the boy makes grabby hands at Chan and only cries harder. Chan quickly takes him into his arms and walks with the whimpering boy towards the dorm where Changbin is already waiting at the door, alarmed by the loud cries from the little. After briefly explaining the situation to him and Jisung, who’s coming out of his room, still looking more asleep than actually awake, Chan sits down on a kitchen chair and tries to calm the crying boy down.
It doesn’t really work. The boy continues crying, gasping and hiccupping tightly pressed in his chest, while desperately trying to tell Chan that it hurts, “Owiee, C-channie, hu-huurts”. If he hadn’t seen the fall himself, Chan would think that the little is hurt somewhere else but it’s truly just the knee and probably the shock.
“Changbin, can you get a wet towel to clean his knee a bit and Jisung could you look for a band aid in the bathroom?” concentrated on the two other members in the room and their answer to his question, he doesn’t notice how the boy on his lap gasps in a big breath and lets out a small surprised noise. What he realizes afterwards, however, is that it’s suddenly a lot easier to calm the little down and it only takes a few more big breaths in order to stop the tears.
Relived about the fact that the boy stopped crying he doesn’t question the sudden change any further.
With only a small protest from Minho, Chan can turn him around so that he’s now sitting on his lap facing Changbin who’s crouching in front of them. Changbin winces at the red teary eyes but tries his best to look as positive as possible, while gently wiping away the blood, revealing a small cut.
“Still hurts, Binnie ouchie” – “Ohh I know, baby but you are doing so good, see I’m nearly finished”.
It doesn’t take long for Jisung to come back with a small packet in his hands. He drops down next to Changbin, smiles encouragingly at the little and praises him for sitting so still and being so brave. Immediately, there’ a big smile painted on Minho’s face, slightly pitiful with the tear streaks on his cheeks, but it’s a smile.
“Look Sungie!” and with that he shoves his entire leg in Jisung’s direction, nearly kicking Changbin in the process who barely manages to dodge the collision with his face. “Oh god I can see it, Minnie. That looks like it hurt a lot but you are so brave, aren’t you? Like a little champion.” – “Nooo, didn’t hurt. Min is strong!”
Chan can’t help himself but chuckle, a few minutes ago the little had been in tears over how disastrous his injury is and now, here he is, telling Jisung that it didn’t even hurt. Glancing at Jisung, he can see that he’s trying not to laugh at the statement from the little as well. Wanting to play along, Jisung lets out a gasp and looks with a shocked expression at Minho, “Wow, then you really are very strong. Now, let’s patch you up.”
In the meantime, Changbin had already taken out one of the band aids and drawn a small smiley face on it. He hands it to Jisung, who quickly opens it, presses it right in the middle of Minho’s knee over the cut and at the end leans forwards to place a light kiss on top of it. At this point the little seems to have forgotten about the previous tears again, because he laughs brightly with a slight blush on his face at Jisung.
“S-sungie?” – “Yes, what is it cutie?” Chan frowns when he hears how quiet and unsure the voice of the boy sounds and how he shifts on his lap, but all his worries are forgotten when the little speaks up again.
“Are you proud f’ Min being so brave? Only cried very little, nearly none, pwomise” a small pause and then “Channie and Binnie can tell right? Min was vewy brave”, expectantly he looks at the two mentioned boys. “Ohh yes you were so brave Minnie and there were only very little tears, that’s right.”
It was a lie, the three mentally older boys all know it and definitely also saw it but none of them can care about the previous tears and cries, instead they can only look fondly at the little, who in turn beams proudly at Jisung.
And Chan? Chan can only think about how Seungmin mentioned a few weeks ago, that the little acts different around Jisung. Maybe Seungmin had been right after all.
3
When Jisung comes home in the late afternoon from the gym with Chan and Changbin, he expects their dorm to be quiet, considering the fact that Hyunjin is supposed to be the only one at home and the boy normally uses these rare moments where he’s alone to work on his paintings with a peaceful silence surrounding him.
Instead, when the three rappers walk into the dorm, they can hear the sounds of the TV, Hyunjin’s soft voice and surprisingly also Minho’s voice. While taking off their shoes, they notice rather quickly how the voice of Minho sounds softer than usual and has a slight lisp, leading them to the conclusion that Minho must be little.
Chan and Changbin are the first two who join the duo in the living room. One look at the boy, who’s sitting closely cuddled to Hyunjin on the couch and is explaining the characters on the TV to the other one, confirms their guess that he’s in fact little.
It’s not long until the little notices the new guests and when he sees who they are, he immediately lets out a loud squeal and reaches out his arms, a clear invitation for them to hug and cuddle him. Of course, they don’t make him wait for too long, because who would voluntarily pass on cuddles from the little.
Hyunjin can’t even welcome the two boys himself, before Minho gets snatched out of his arms and instead can be found in the arms of Chan, with Changbin happily cooing at him. The little doesn’t even seem to care whether it’s Hyunjin’s arms he’s in or Chan’s as long as he gets the cuddles and attention he needs.
“Who do we have here, hm? It’s our favorite little kitten” Changbin continues to coo at the boy and immediately receiving a bright laugh from him in return.
“Kitten, Min s’ kitten” Minho quietly repeats the words before looking at Changbin and reaching a hand towards his hoodie string. After failing to grab the string for two times he finally gets a hold of it and with one strong pull, Changbin finds himself stumbling towards him, bumping into Chan and then all three of them fall backwards onto the couch.
While Minho just lets out another loud squeal accompanied with a slight giggle, apparently finding the whole situation very funny, Changbin groans in pain and tries to move Chan and Minho carefully off of his body. Seeing Changbin’s struggle, Hyunjin picks the little up and places him back at his original spot, which is securely in his own arms.
“T’annie and Binnie pwease watch movie with us?” Minho asks innocently and looks at the two mentioned boys, who can still be found tangled into each other next to them on the couch.
Before one of them can even think about an answer, Jisung comes into the room, a glass of water in one hand and in the other hand a small bag of cookies. In Changbin’s professional opinion he should definitely rather eat proteins after the gym but there are certainly more important problems than Jisung’s eating habits right now, for example the fact that Chan is still very much lying on top of him.
“Ohh Minnie, what did you do to your hyungies?” he laughs and glances at the chaos on the couch. He sits down on the other side of Hyunjin and gently ruffles his hand through Minho’s hair, before turning away in order to place his drink and the cookies on the small table.
Even though Jisung doesn’t see Minho’s reaction, Hyunjin does and it isn’t the reaction he initially expected. Instead of greeting Jisung with his bright smile, like he did with the other two 3racha members, he lets out a quiet noise and hides his face in Hyunjin’s shirt.
It’s probably too much attention for the little with four members looking at him, Hyunjin thinks. So, he does the only thing he can think about, in order to relax the atmosphere around the boy again, and quietly asks Chan and Changbin if they don’t want to take a shower after coming from the gym.
In hindsight, maybe he should have worded his question a bit different because the two boys look slightly offended and only grumble something about masculine hormones and sports before shuffling out of the room towards the two bathrooms. To be honest, Hyunjin couldn’t care less especially, when the now calmer atmosphere seems to do the trick. Hyunjin feels Minho moving again and when he looks down, he finds him with his head angled to the side, a slight blush on his cheeks and his big eyes fixated on Jisung.
“Are you a little shy today? How about I give you one of my super delicious cookies?” Jisung laughs at the boy and holds out one of said cookies. The little stares at the cookie, then at Hyunjin, as if he’s asking for permission, and finally back at Jisung who’s now also noticing the weird behavior of the boy.
“Sungie mad?” – “Oh, baby why would I be mad at you?” he frowns.
“Min made chaos and hyungies fwell” comes the unsure response from the boy.
Hyunjin and Jisung share a confused glance, not quite knowing where Minho got the idea from that someone would be mad at him, sometimes there just isn’t really a good explanation for the thoughts in little-Minho’s brain. But the few seconds of silence seem to be enough to prove to the little that surely Jisung is mad at him for being so loud and causing such a ruckus as soon as they came home.
When Jisung hears the displeased whine from the little, he jumps back into action, “Oh no no no baby. No one is mad at you” he tries to reassure the boy “how could I ever be mad at you hm? You are my perfect little baby kitten” already feeling more at ease as soon as he sees the slight blush creeping back onto the little’s cheeks.
“Hyungies were so excited to see you and got a little carried away but nothing happened” he picks the cookie back up “I’m so happy to see you too and you are gonna get all the cuddles you want later, okay?”
This time the little accepts the cookie and slowly begins to nibble on the sweet treat. A happy expression back on his face and clearly excited about the promised cuddles before he pouts, “Wan cuddles now”.
Jisung can’t help himself but grin at the boy, he’s just too cute. “Hyung has to take a shower as well. I will be very quick you won’t even notice I’m gone and you can watch the end of the movie with Hyunjinnie, how does that sound?”
Even though hesitantly, Minho slightly nods his head, after all he really wants to finish the movie and he can’t just stop in the middle without knowing whether the small orange fish finds his way back home or not.
And with that it’s settled. Hyunjin lets the movie play again and Minho sits comfortably snuggled between Hyunjin and Jisung, who’s only waiting for one of the showers to get free again. Occasionally demanding a new cookie from Jisung but other than that, the boy is silently following the colorful scenes on the TV screen.
Completely immersed in the storyline of the movie, he only lets out a displeased sound when he’s forced to change his position on the couch, due to Jisung leaving his spot in order to take his well-deserved shower. Only when the colorful pictures and playful scenes are replaced by the end credits, does the little seem to fully realize, that Jisung is no longer sitting next to him.
“Sungie where?” comes the whiny question from the boy, “he’s in the shower sweetie” before Hyunjin even has the chance to further explain his absence, the little is already sliding of the couch and starting his way towards the bathroom.
“Min? Oh! hey no Minnie! Wait wait wait”, Hyunjin jumps off the couch when he realizes the intention the boy seems to be following right now. With two big steps he reaches Minho, who thankfully is always waddling around the dorm rather slow when little, and scoops him right back up into his arms.
“Min you can’t go to Sungie in the bathroom right now, he’s taking a shower” he tries to explain but it’s not surprising that the little doesn’t understand.
“WHY NOT?” the boy more or less screams right back into Hyunjin’s face. Yes, why not? How do you explain the concept of privacy to a literal toddler. Hyunjin wouldn’t know.
“Sweetie when you have your bath time you also don’t want everyone coming into the bathroom, do you?” – “mhh no?”, Hyunjin grins, that was easier than expected.
“B-but Sungie aways there with me, so I be there with him” the little exclaims, “wanna go see Sungie now!”
Or maybe not. Hyunjin sighs.
“How about we two just cuddle for a few more minutes and then Sungie is surely ready, hm?”, he holds his breath while waiting for the response, already expecting a new argument.
“No, wan cuddles from Sungie” the little whines, now with the addition of the first tears gathering themselves along his lash line. Hyunjin would be lying if he said that he wasn’t at least a bit hurt by the obvious rejection of the boy in his arms.
He starts to think. The day went so well until 3racha came back from the gym. What happened? Well, thinking about the earlier situation, it was only after Jisung came into the room as well that Minho’s behavior started to change. Did Jisung say something? No, he can’t remember anything that could be considered as a reason for the littles current sensitive mood. Wait, Jisung!? Didn’t Seungmin mention a few weeks ago that the little acts different around him?
At that time Hyunjin found it rather funny, because why would the little act different around Jisung and on top of that no one from the other members had ever noticed anything similar. But now, he isn’t so sure anymore. Maybe Seungmin was right after all and what better situation to test that theory than now.
With a small frown he looks at the little, realizing that in the time he was busy trying to understand the situation, the boy had started silently crying and is now looking up at him with red eyes and tear streaks along his cheeks.
“Oh no sweetie, where are all the tears coming from” he starts lightly bopping the boy up and down, “everything is okay, you can cuddle with Sungie the whole evening”.
“W-wan Sungi-ie now” the little only hiccups into his shoulder. Hyunjin feels his heart breaking at the pitiful sight of the boy, although the desperate need of the little to be close to Jisung is actually pretty precious.
Deciding that there isn’t much he can do right now, except of holding the boy until Jisung comes back he starts to slowly walk through the living room and rock the boy in his arms, all the while continuing to whisper small reassurances to him.
They are snapped out from their little bubble when someone speaks behind them, “Minnie baby I’m back, let’s go get the cuddles I prom-“ there’s a pause “what’s going on? Did something happen? Why is he crying?” so many questions…
Jisung is standing in the door, looking with a questioning and slightly panicked face at Hyunjin. Upon seeing him, Hyunjin immediately walks towards him, already trying to loosen Minho’s grip on his shirt, in order to pass the boy over to Jisung. He’s surprised when he has to realize, that the little is not playing along, instead only tightening his hold and pressing himself further into Hyunjin’s chest.
“Hey Min, Sungie is here” he tries again “you can cuddle him as much as you want now, that’s what you wanted isn’t it?”
They can hear a small whine from the boy but other than that nothing happens. Hyunjin is confused. Jisung is here, why is Minho still so upset?
Jisung takes a step forward and starts to gently stroke his fingers against the cheek of the little, “Minnie baby I’m right here. I’m so sorry for taking so long but I will make it up to you. We can cuddle as long as you want and we can do whatever you want hm?”. But again, the little only lets out a quiet noise and stays hidden away in Hyunjin’s arms.
“Baby come on, can you show me your pretty eyes?”, finally the boy moves his head and peeks at Jisung, “there is my precious baby” he immediately coos at him, leading to a deep blush covering the little’s cheeks and another shy whine tumbling out of his mouth.
Actually, it’s the same sound as before where Hyunjin thought the boy was close to crying, which leads him to believe that the boy wasn’t upset when Jisung joined them again but rather embarrassed or even shy. This seems to be a reoccurring theme today.
Gently Jisung loops his arms around the little, hoists him out of Hyunjin’s hold and places him sideways on his own hip. He can feel how the little snuggles his body closer and rests his head on his shoulder, a quiet sigh escaping him in the process.
“There you go sweetie” Hyunjin fondly smiles at Minho, before reassuringly nodding at Jisung who seems to have the situation under pretty good control now. He leans forward to press a final kiss on the messy hair of the little and then leaves the two alone, allowing them to spend the rest of the day tightly cuddled up.
Now alone with the boy, Jisung decides to travel from the living room towards his own more comfortable room, where he gently places the boy on his bed and tucks a blanket tightly around his body. The little follows his movements with curious eyes but still doesn’t say anything, only when Jisung takes a step back and consequently a small distance between the two boys is created, does he react.
“No no Sungie no go” with frantic hands he tries to reach out towards the rapper, “no go pwease Sungie cuddles”, he whines, still trying to reach Jisung which is not as successful as he wants it to be, due to the way Jisung had him bundled up in the blanket.
“Oh baby no, I’m not leaving” comes the immediate reassurance “let me just go grab your paci and then I’m all yours, okay?”
Planning to spend the rest of the evening together in his bed, Jisung wants to have all the items at hand which might be needed. One of Minho’s many plushies can surely be already found somewhere in his bed, blankets are also not a problem and various small snacks are in his bedside drawer as well, only the little’s pacifier is not here.
He glances at the boy who is clearly not looking too amused right now but it’s only a matter of maybe one minute he would be gone, it should be fine. So, with one quick kiss on the boy’s head, he sprints back into the living room, digs through Minho’s ‘little-drawer’ in one of their cupboards until he finds the light purple paci and runs back into his own room.
Back in his own room, he has to realize, that the little is sitting slumped down on the bed, his hands fiddling with the blanket and new tears visible on his already flushed cheeks. Without wasting another second, he reaches the bed and pulls the pitiful human-blanket-bundle into his arms.
“Hyung’s so sorry for leaving you alone”, somehow, he manages to maneuver them both further onto the bed and laying down more comfortable, “I’m here, oh baby it’s okay I won’t leave you alone”
“T-thought S-sung l-le-heft” the little wails into the blanket.
“I could never leave you, you are so so important. Hyung loves you sooooo much, my precious little baby, what would I do without you” Jisung quietly whispers into the boy’s ear.
While he continues to mumble small reassurances, he can’t help himself but frown at the clearly noticeable and unusual prominent clingy behavior of the little. Never before did the little break into tears when he was left alone for a few minutes, especially not after the promise that said person would be back in a few moments. Maybe he just has a more emotional day today, everyone has those once in a while…
Jisung pulls another blanket over them and for a few minutes the two just lay closely cuddled up next to each other. The little has his head placed on top of Jisung’s chest, the steady heartbeat which reaches his ears quickly working to calm him down and it doesn’t take too long until the last few hiccups and sobs are replaced by deep and full breaths again.
They can’t tell whether they’ve been lying like that for five minutes or 20 minutes but at some point Jisung feels how the boy on his chest starts shuffling around again and after a short struggle with the blanket, he finds himself face to face with the little who is staring right back into his face.
His eyes are still slightly red from crying earlier, hair wildly sticking in various direction and overall, the boy looks rather messy right now. But nothing of that matters to Jisung when he sees the familiar glint in his eyes, the relaxed expression on his whole face and his mouth pulled upwards into a small smile.
“Love you lots” comes slightly slurred but unmistakably sincere and so full of love and appreciation from the little.
If Jisung would have to pinpoint one moment in which he felt the luckiest or happiest in the past weeks, it would be this one. As soon as the words register fully in his brain, there is a warm feeling spreading all over his chest and he can’t help the big bright smile from forming on his face.
“I love you too Minnie, so so much” he quietly responses.
Hearing the answer, the little rests his head back down on his chest and presses himself even further into Jisung, who in turn only tightens his hold on the boy. He reaches for the paci, which is still lying on the bedside drawer, and carefully presents it to the little, not knowing whether the boy wants it right now or not. Upon seeing his comfort item in front of his face, he immediately opens his mouth and allows Jisung to gently place the item between his lips.
Exactly like that, they fall into a peaceful silence again. Jisung lovingly stroking the littles hair and back, mumbling a few affectionate words and occasionally placing a light kiss on top of his hair. Minho on the other hand, quietly suckling on his paci while both his hands are tightly holding onto Jisung’s shirt, as if he wants to make sure that the other one doesn’t leave.
And when Chan comes into the room a few hours later, in order to ask whether they want to eat dinner, and takes a photo of the two boys closely cuddled up under a heap of blankets, they don’t even stir.
+1
If Minho would have to list the few things his little-self feared the most, they would probably be thunderstorms, the darkness and being alone and currently all three of these things are very much present.
It’s the middle of the night when Minho jolts awake by a nightmare. He’s breathing heavily while aimlessly looking around the room and trying to concentrate on his surroundings in order to ground himself again. Sadly, he has to realize rather quickly that this is doing the exact opposite of calming him down, his already vulnerable mindset only further aggravated by the suffocating darkness in his room and the clattering of heavy rain on the window.
The actual breaking point is reached only a few seconds later when bright lightning illuminates his room and moments later the loud booming of thunder disrupting the silence. Minho can’t remember a time where he regressed faster than in this moment, scared by his previous nightmare and after waking up being met with complete darkness as well as a thunderstorm, pushes him into his headspace in a matter of seconds.
Immediately his whole situation feels a lot worse and on top of that the little is scarily aware of the fact that he is very much alone in his room right now. Desperately he tries to search for one of his plushies in the mess of his blankets but the little is so scared of the darkness around him, that he doesn’t dare to reach his hands further into the black void around him.
The first small whimpers start to leave his mouth. He needs someone to hold him. Pressing himself in the furthest corner of his bed, the boy tries to make himself as small as possible, maybe the monsters won’t see him there. But it doesn’t help. It’s still terrifyingly dark around him, the moments where lightning illuminates the room doesn’t bring comfort instead it only throws big shadows and shapes on his walls and increases his fear. When the next thunder nearly sounds like an explosion for the little, the poor boy can’t help himself anymore and he breaks into tears with loud wails escaping his mouth.
In his panic and fear the boy desperately tries to completely ignore his surroundings, hoping that everything will be okay when he opens his eyes again. With his eyes tightly shut and his hands covering his ears, the little doesn’t realize that Felix and Seungmin burst into his room, woken up by his loud cries. When Felix spots Minho, cowered away in the corner of his bed, he rushes towards him and tries to remove the boy’s hands from his ears in order to calm him down. Both boys immediately recognizing that Minho slipped into his headspace.
The moment the little feels something touching him, he grows even more distressed and his cries become even louder. Did the monsters climb onto his bed? What’s happening? The crying now accompanied by small gasps and words without any connection, “N-noo, nuhhnoo”. Abruptly Felix pulls his hand back again, not having expected the reaction from the boy on the bed, and helplessly looks at Seungmin.
“Hey Minnie, it’s Felix and Seungmin” Seungmin starts, “you’re okay baby, I know it’s scary right now but you’re safe here with us”, when the cries seem to get slightly quieter, he gestures towards Felix that he should try to touch the little again. “We’ve got you Minnie, do you think you can open your eyes for us?” This time, when Felix gently strokes his hand over the wet cheek of the boy, he’s met with two teary eyes staring back at him and lets out a relived sigh.
“L-lixieee” the little cries and throws himself forwards into Felix’s arms, where he presses his face into his neck and just continues to cry.
“Ohh baby it’s okay, I’m right here”, Felix whispers into the little’s ear while slowly stroking his back and bouncing the boy on his lap. Normally this always calms the boy down rather quickly and most of the times even a simple hug can already make everything better again. But today seems to be an exception, because even securely in the arms of Felix with quiet reassurances mumbled in his direction, the little doesn’t calm down and just continues to cry. Seungmin and Felix look at each other with a big question mark on their faces. Was there something else wrong?
“Minnie, can you tell me what’s wrong hm? Where are all the tears coming from?” Seungmin tries to get an answer from Minho again. For a moment it seems like the little didn’t hear the question but then he makes out a few sounds in between the cries, but with the way the little still has his face pressed into Felix shoulder the words sound like pure gibberish and neither of the two mentally older boys are able to make out actual words.
“Baby, you have to lift your head a bit so we can hear you, it’s not dark anymore and we are both here to protect you from the shadow monsters, everything is okay” due to the fact that it’s not the first time, time that the little wakes up in the night and is scared of the dark, both boys are already familiar with the existence of Minho’s so called shadows monsters.
Finally, the little lifts his head a bit and cries “W-wahann ap-appaaa” in Seungmin’s direction. While Felix mumbles a confused ‘what?’ which only upsets the little further, Seungmin can’t help himself but smile, already having a suspicion what or rather who the little wants.
But before Seungmin can confirm his suspicions, Felix starts talking, “We are both here baby, everything is okay” clearly no idea what the little wants.
“NOO-nooohoo wann Appa, Min wans appa” the boy continues to cry, now even louder when he realizes that his desperate wish is apparently not understood by the freckled boy. Before the little can get even more upset, Seungmin decides to just test his theory.
“Baby do you want us to call Jisungie?” – “Why would we call Jisung? It’s the middle of the night Seungmin!” comes the direct answer from Felix, who just seems utterly confused at this point. Seungmin can’t blame him, the other members hadn’t picked up on the different behavior of the little around Jisung and now, in the middle of the night, is truly the wrong time to try and explain everything to Felix again.
Luckily, the little beats him to it and answers the question himself, “yes yes wan Sungie, pwease wan Appa, wan Sungie, pwease” and with that he starts to cry again, hiding back in Felix shirt.
“Uhhmm what? Am I missing something here?” Felix asks.
“I’ll explain it later, let’s just get Jisung over here” – “Oh you were serious? He’s so going to kill you if you wake him up”
Seungmin just shrugs and pulls out his phone, already scrolling to Jisung’s contact. The boy will survive and when he finds out the reason for the wake-up call he’s surely going to forgive Seungmin in a matter of seconds.
After pressing the call button, the line just beeps several times before going silent again but Seungmin’s not one to give up easily, especially not when it’s about the happiness of little-Minho.
So, he calls again.
And again.
And then, finally, when he presses the green button for the fourth time Jisung picks up.
“I swear to god Seungmin, what do you want?” comes the mumbled but clearly frustrated voice of Jisung through the phone.
The little seems to hear him as well because he lifts his head again and starts looking through the room, searching for the boy he oh so desperately needs right now. When he can’t find him, he lets out a high whine and new tears roll down his flushed cheeks.
While Felix tries to comfort the distressed boy in his arms, Seungmin decides to turn the speaker off in order to not confuse the little any further.
“Was that Minho? What is going on?”
“Yup, Minho is little” Seungmin starts to explain “Felix and me woke up because he was crying, probably because of the storm, we can’t calm him down and he’s only asking for you”
“For me?” Jisung frowns, this is new. He spent a lot time with the little and could comfort him rather good and quickly but never before did it happen that the boy asked specifically for him and the others couldn’t get him to calm down.
Deciding to keep the fact that Minho called the boy on the other line ‘Appa’ a secret until he’s here, Seungmin continues “yes, for you! Just come over please. We really don’t know what to do and we should put him to sleep as soon as possible again because if not tomorrow will be a disaster”.
“It’s freaking storming outside!” Jisung whines “can’t you hand him the phone or put me on speaker for a second?” – “Okay I’m putting you on speaker but I think he really wants to have you here”
While Seungmin had hoped that he could see the reaction of Jisung with his own eyes when he realizes the new shift in their dynamic, he can also understand, that the other one doesn’t want to walk over to the other dorm in the middle of the night and during a thunderstorm.
“You’re on speaker now”
“Thank you” it’s funny how all their voices often change as soon as they speak to the little, “Hey, Minnie, can you hear me baby?” comes the now soft voice of Jisung from the speaker.
The addressed boy immediately lifts his head and Seungmin winces when he starts searching the room again but can’t spot Jisung. He scoots closer to him and slightly waves the phone in front of his face.
“Where?” – “Minnie he’s on the phone, here you can talk to Jisungie, he can here you okay”
“Baby I’m right here, everything is fine, I love you so so much” Jisung tries again.
Seungmin and Felix can only helplessly watch, how the corners of Minho’s mouth drop down again and his lips begin to wobble when he realizes that Jisung is not really here.
“Nooohooo, wan here!” he nearly shouts in Felix ear and then a lot quieter in between new whimpers “wan A-appa pwease, Sungie, Appa, need huggies from appa” the poor boy sobs exhausted.
“D-did he just call me APPA?” Jisung gasps “I’m on my way, Oh my god, okay, ohhh” there’s a lot of shuffling on the other line before he continues, “Minnie I will be with you in a few minutes, Seungminnie and Lixie will be with you the entire time, everything is going to be fine” and then he promptly hangs up.
Dammit, there goes Seungmin’s surprise moment but it’s a sacrifice he’s willing to take if the little stops crying.
As promised only five minutes later, Seungmin can hear the front door open, the shuffling of feet in the corridor and then Jisung bursts into the room, slightly out of breath and pants wet from the rain but with a wide grin across his face. He hurries towards the bed, sits next to Felix and reaches out his hand in order to softly run his finger over the little’s head.
“Hey Minnie, I’m here everything is okay”
First the little only shifts but then he turns around in one swift motion and flings himself forwards into the embrace of Jisung, who’s already waiting with open arms.
“Missed chu lots” – “Oh baby, I’m sorry for not being here”
Jisung feels his heart breaking at the broken tone of the little and the very prominent tear tracks he could see before the boy hid his face in his chest. At least there aren’t any new tears and with the boy securely in his arms, Jisung already feels a lot better and also, luckily for Seungmin, not as mad anymore about being woken up.
“Appa stay?” Jisung is not sure whether it’s a question or a request but it doesn’t matter because after hearing the little repeating the word, he already heard the first time over the phone, he wouldn’t leave the boy alone for any money in the world
Jisung can’t prevent the bright smile from appearing on his face, his heartbeat making a small jump and a warm feeling spreading inside his chest. He looks at Felix and Seungmin as if he wants to confirm with them that he heard it right and it’s not just his imagination playing tricks on him and when both of them just nod at him, with equally big grins, he looks back down at the boy cuddled against his body.
“Am I your Appa cutie?” Jisung asks carefully.
The little shyly looks up at him, his cheeks painted in a pink plush and then he quietly mumbles the words which make Jisung’s heart nearly beat out of his chest with how proud and happy he feels, “S-sungie s’ appa”.
Is there a limit on how wide your smile can stretch? Jisung’s not sure but considering the fact that his cheeks are already hurting from how wide his smile is, he probably reached some kind of physical limit. But that doesn’t stop the butterflies from flying through his stomach like a hurricane or the overwhelming happiness, gratitude and love from consuming his entire body.
“Yes Minnie, I’m going to stay with you, I’ll never leave you alone again” he thinks for a second before he shily continues, “Appa will stay with you and Appa loves you so so much”.
A bit embarrassed with the other two members in the room but when he hears the bright laughter from the boy nothing else matters, heck he would probably do anything the little asks him at this point.
In the morning Seungmin will definitely mock him and rub it into his face how he cried a little out of happiness but right now, even Seungmin doesn’t dare to interrupt the moment of the two, only secretly smirking to himself because he was right.
He was right from the beginning and no one wanted to believe him.