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Our Baby Haechanie

Summary:

Jaehyun and Johnny always said if they weren’t in a kpop group they would be dads…

Jaehyun and Johnny try to turn Haechan into a little.

Notes:

Kind of a random idea I had lol. I always appreciate feedback so don’t be afraid to comment<3

Chapter 1: Fatherhood

Chapter Text

It was Monday night, and the group had just finished a long practice. Everyone was so tired that they ran into their rooms and fell asleep. Well, everyone except Johnny.

Johnny lay in his bed, thinking. He couldn’t get this idea out of his head. Ever since last week, he’s been thinking about it.

Fatherhood.

Yes, Johnny could not stop thinking about how much he wanted to be a father.

The fans, Nctzen, always talk about how he’d make a great dad, and he agrees.

Maybe he was going insane. Perhaps he should stop thinking about this.

But he can’t, so he wakes up his roommate to sort things out.

"Jaehyun? Jaehyun?!" Johnny whispers.

Jaehyun groans and turns over on the top bunk."Hyung, What do you want? I’m sleeping," he says, half asleep.

"I can’t go to sleep, and I really need someone to talk to," Johnny confesses.

Jaehyun groans again, but this time, he sits up, "Okay. What is the problem?" He asks

Johnny ponders for a little. What if he tells him, and he thinks he’s crazy?

Finally, he decides to answer, "Okay, so lately, I haven’t been able to get this thought from my head...." he trails off

"What thought?" Jaehyun ask impatiently

Now Johnny groans, frustrated with himself. Why can’t he tell him?

He deeply breathes, "I want to be a father. Like right now. The need for a child has been high lately." He says quickly

Silence.

Johnny curses to himself. He knew Jaehyun would think he was crazy. He’s too young and already has a lot of responsibilities to his group.

Suddenly, Johnny hears Jaehyun climbing down the bunk bed. He then sits right next to Johnny.

"Listen, hyung, I understand what you’re going through," Jaehyun sighs. "I have the same feelings all the time. If I could be a dad right now, then I would"

Johnny sits there, trying to take in the information. So he wasn’t crazy? And he wasn’t alone.

" It’s nice to know I’m not alone. But what can we do?" He asks, still desperate for a baby.

Jaehyun sighs. Should he tell him about the other option?

He thinks briefly before telling him, "Actually, hyung, there is another way. There is something called age regression-"

Johnny lights up, "Wait! I know about that! In my whole father frenzy, I’ve done a lot of research. But what? You want one of us to go into little space?" He questions

Jaehyun shakes his head, " Ah no. I just meant that we could both care for a little, and maybe that will satisfy our need?" He says as more of a question.
Johnny is all for this idea, "But who?"

Jaehyun smirks, "I have a good person in mind. Haechan"

Johnny nods. Haechan was the perfect person; he was super cute and he already acted like a baby. All they needed to do was treat him even more like a baby, and sooner or later, he should slip.

At least, they hoped. They weren’t precisely professionals when it came to little space. But they can try.

They planned the whole night. They would need to do all of this perfectly.

Chapter 2: First day

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It was 10 am, and both roommates shot awake. They were way too excited to start putting their plan in motion. Even if this whole thing didn’t work, both boys were okay with treating Haechan like a baby for the rest of the week.

They race down to the kitchen and see Taeyong making pancakes.

They say good morning and sit at the table, awaiting their breakfast and the other members.
In a matter of seconds, the members come stumbling in. Finally, the long-awaited member stumbled in last.

Haechan walks in with his eyes barely opened, wrapped in a blanket. He was so cute.

Johnny had to keep himself from audibly awing.
Jaehyun pats a seat right in between him and Johnny. Haechan wobbles over to the chair with the blanket dragging on the ground. Once he sits, Jaehyun doesn’t take a second to hug him, "Good morning, Haechanie!" He exclaims

Johnny soon follows, "Good morning, Fullsun!"

Haechan rubs the sleep from his eyes before uttering a small Good morning to his hyungs. Why were they so happy this early in the morning?
He decided to ignore it. He then wraps himself tighter in the blanket.

"Haechan, are you okay?" Johnny asks concerned.

Haechan nods, "Yeah, I’m just a little cold."

Jaehyun takes no time to wrap his arms around the boy again, "Mark, can you please turn the heater on?" He asks.

Mark gives them a confused look but obeys. The rest of the guys were also a little confused about why they were so caring to the maknae. Of course, they treated him with love and care, but something felt different.

"Pancakes are ready!" Taeyong shouts while handing everyone a plate. The boys dig in, well, except Haechan. He was having trouble keeping himself wrapped tightly in the blanket while also trying to eat his food.

Johnny saw this and decided to help, "It’s okay, haechanie, I’ll help you," he said while cutting the boy's pancakes into little pieces and feeding him.
Haechan was confused by all the kindness but didn’t complain. His hyung offered to feed him; how could he pass that up?

Johnny smiles every time Haechan takes a bite. His Haechanie was such a good eater.

The members couldn’t help but look at the two. "How come you don’t feed me like that?" Jungwoo whines.

Johnny rolls his eyes, "Because you’re not a baby," he states

Mark chimes in, "But Hyuck isn’t a baby."

Johnny and Jaehyun look at each other and then back to the members, "But he is our maknae," Johnny says, annoyed.

Haechan just sat there with a confused expression. Why was everyone so loud this morning?

Jungwoo groans, "Whatever," he says, all pouty and continues to eat his breakfast.

Johnny continues to feed the boy the last of his pancakes. Once the plate is clean, Johnny claps his hands, "All done," he sings. Haechan laughs at that.
"Thank you, hyung," he says with a big grin.

Jaehyun then takes a napkin and goes to clean the boy's face. There was syrup all over his mouth.
Haechan smiles again and says another thank you.
Yuta watches the scene and smiles to himself. They were acting weird today, but it was also adorable. Everyone else thought the same; the trio was being super cute. Well, everyone except Mark. He thought it was weird and didn’t know what was going on.

Taeyong clears his throat, "Okay, everybody, we’ll need to prepare for practice. We will leave in an hour."

Everyone quickly finishes their breakfast and puts the plates in the sink. The members then head to their bedrooms to get dressed.

Johnny goes to their room to get ready, while Jaehyun follows Haechan to his room to ask if he needs any help.

"Haechanie? Do you need any help getting ready?" he asks. Mark was in the room currently putting on some sweats for practice, and he looks over at the two, confused.

Haechan shakes his head, "No, thank you, Hyung. I'm okay."

Jaehyun nods and heads back to his room.

Mark grabs Hyuck’s arm. "What’s going on with you and the hyungs?" He asks, suspicious.

Haechan yanks his arm away and starts getting dressed, "What do you mean? Nothing's going on," he says, annoyed.

Mark scoffs, "Then why were they treating you like an infant this morning? You’re not sick, and it’s not your birthday."

Haechan shrugs, "I don’t know. They were just being nice; is that so bad? I didn’t mind them treating me like that, so there’s no problem." He states

Mark sighs; he knows Hyuck was right. There wasn’t a problem. Maybe he was just being over dramatic. He decides to drop the topic and finish getting ready.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Johnny was currently gushing over how cute Hyuck was.

"Did you see him in his little blanket?" He exclaims.

Jaehyun smiles at his excited friend. "Yes. He was adorable! But the members seem weirded out," he confesses. "Should we tell them?"

Johnny takes a moment to think. He doesn’t want the others to think he’s crazy. He doesn’t know if they’ll be as accepting as Jaehyun.

"I don’t know. I’m scared they might think it’s weird. And what if they tell Haechan?"

Jaehyun furrows his brows, "You’re right. What if they call us crazy? I’m not ready for that. Also, should we tell Haechan ourselves? Like, should we sit down with him and tell him about little space?"

There was silence.

Johnny hadn’t thought of actually sitting down with the boy. He ponders for a minute before answering.

"Honestly, I’m a little scared to sit down with him. What are we supposed to say? Oh, hi Haechan, we want you to be our baby??! He’ll think we’re nuts," Johnny exclaims.

Jaehyun sighs and runs his hand through his hair.
"You saw how he acted this morning, already like a child. He didn’t mind us taking care of him. He seemed to enjoy it. So, let's wait. Take it slow."

Jaehyun finally speaks, "I agree. If we continue to care for him like a child, maybe he’ll figure out little space on his own. And then he’ll be coming to us to talk about it."

Both guys look at each other and nod in agreement. Everything they were saying seemed to make sense. Well, they thought it made sense, but anyone could see it was a wild plan.

Jaehyun quickly finishes getting ready and grabs a spare bag for Haechan. He fills it with snacks, drinks, and a stuffed bear. Jaehyun also packs a jacket for the boy in case it gets cold.

"Guys, hurry up! Let’s go!" Taeyong yells

Everyone scrambled to the door with tired looks, already dreading the long day of practice.

They all head out and into the company car. Johnny and Jaehyun make sure to sit on either side of Haechan.

The members continued to be suspicious of the sudden clinginess between the trio but decided not to say anything.

Haechan was enjoying the attention. He loved his hyungs and didn’t mind the extra love they were sending him. He leans on Johnny's shoulder and closes his eyes, "Wake me up when we get to the practice room," he says drowsily

Johnny smiles and pats his head, "Okay, little one."

Notes:

Isn’t Haechan adorable?? Also did you guys enjoy this chapter??? ^_^

Chapter 3: Dance practice with cute Haechan

Chapter Text

The van stops and the members slowly get out. No one was in a rush to meet their dance instructor.

Johnny lightly taps hyuck, "haechanie we're here"

Haechan groans, "five more minutes"

Johnny chuckles. He taps him again only to receive another groan. He’s left with no choice, he begins to tickle his tummy.

Haechan springs awake, "hyung stop!" He says inbetween giggles. Johnny laughs, "I’ll only stop if you get out the van"

Haechan tries to catch his breath "Okay! Okay!"

Johnny stops tickling the poor boy and they sit there laughing for a little before Haechan finally decides to get out the van. Johnny follows right behind him. They can see that everyone had long gone inside. Jaehyun was the only one waiting for them at the door. He waves his hand, signalling them to hurry up.

"Race ya!" Johnny yells as he sprints to the door.

Haechan takes a second to process before he starts running towards the entrance too.

Johnny makes it to the door first. Haechan stops in front of them and starts to pout, "No fair! How was I supposed to win when you have those long monster legs??"

Jaehyun looks at the pouty boy and smiles. Johnny ruffles Haechan’s hair,"It’s not my fault you’re tiny" he teases.

Haechan scoffs,"No I’m not!" He pushes past them and walks towards the practice room.

The pair laugh at his antics and also walk towards the practice room.

Inside everyone turns their heads. Mark narrows his eyes, "Nice of you to finally join us"

The trio roll their eyes and ignore the comment, getting into postions to start practicing the first dance.

~

Practice feels like it’ll never end. All the boys are tired and sweaty but they know they’re only half way done. Taeyong finally convinced their instructor to let them have a mini break.

"Fine. But only 20mins and then I want you guys back and ready to practice"

Everyone is cheerful, they all take some time to chat while rehydrating and resting.

Haechan takes a seat in the middle of the room right next to Taeil, Doyoung and Jaehyun, he groans while rubbing his tummy.

"I’m so hungry. I really should have brought something to eat."

Jaehyun Is quick to get up and sprint towards his bag. He comes back with cookies and apple juice. He hands over the goods to Haechan.

Haechan looks surprised, "Hyung is this for me?" He questions. Jaehyun nods, "I packed it just Incase you got hungry"

Hyuck raises his eyebrow, "You packed snacks specifically for me?? But why?" Jaehyun sighs, "Do you want the snacks or not?"

He quickly nods his head,"Yes, thank you hyung" he says softly while opening up the packages.

Taeil looks between the two and he too raises his eyebrow, "Is there something going on that I don’t know? How come you didn’t pack anyone else snacks?"

Jaehyun bites his lip, not knowing how to answer the question without exposing himself.

He thinks for a second and then answers, "Well I know Haechan is a growing boy and he needs food to grow big and strong"

Haechan stops chewing his cookie and looks up, his cheeks growing red, "hyuuunggg" he whines.

Taeil and doyoung burst out laughing. Taeil goes to pinch the boys cheeks, "Aw our baby haechanie"

Haechan begins to pout and turns himself away form his hyungs, munching angrily on his cookie.

Jaehyun gets up and plops himself in front of the boy. Haechan continues to pout.

"I’m sorry Haechan. I didn’t mean to embarrass you"

Hyuck says nothing while the duo behind them continue to laugh. Jaehyun sighs and gives them a look. Taeil and doyoung quickly shut their mouths and move away from the boy to start a new conversation.

Jaehyun takes his hand and lifts haechans chin up so he was looking right at him, "Listen hyuck im sorry if what I said embarrassed you, okay? I brought these snacks because I knew you would get hungry and I really care about you"

Haechan could feel his cheeks heating up again.

"It’s okay hyung. I’m fine now"

He looks away "I really do appreciate you bringing me snacks. You and Johnny hyung have been so nice to me today and I really like it so thank you" he says shyly

Jaehyun smiles and goes to pat the boys head. How could someone be so tiny and adorable?

"You’re welcome haechanie"

Their instructor walks back in the room, "Alright times up. Let’s go."

Haechan quickly finishes drinking his juice and discards of the waste before running into position for the next song.

Practice continues on as normal, long and boring. The new dance was kind of hard to learn and haechan made some mistakes here and there but Johnny and Jaehyun made sure to encourage him every time.

Haechan smiled with each word of encouragement, feeling like he could do anything if he put his mind to it. By the end of practice he had mastered the dance and was even teaching some of the others.

Their instructor turns off the music and waves them goodbye, exiting the dance room. Everyone gathers their belongings, ready to collapse at any moment.

Haechan runs over to Johnny as they're exiting the building "Thank you for motivating me during practice. It really helped!"

Johnny smiles,"You’re welcome. You did a good job in class today, I’m really proud of you."

Haechan beams at the praise. He doesn’t know why those words affected him so much but they did. Getting praise from his Johnny hyung felt like he won a trophy.

While they wait outside for the car the air begins to get cold. Haechan starts to shiver, he was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Jaehyun looks at the boy before pulling out the jacket he packed and handing it over. Haechan takes it, "Just for me, again?"

Jaehyun nods and Haechan decides not to question it any further. He puts on the jacket, now feeling nice and toasty, and goes to hug his hyung.

"Thank you hyungie" he says cutely. Jaehyun could swear he felt his heart burst. He pats the boys head, trying his best not to pinch his cheeks and attack him with kisses.

The van pulls up and the driver ushers everyone inside. Of course the trio all sit in the back together with hyuck in the middle. He continues to hug Jaehyun, never letting go as he feels himself getting sleepy.

As much as Jaehyun loves being hugged by hyuck, he couldn’t really breath from the tight grip. He then remembers the bear he packed and takes it out his bag. He slowly removes Hyuck’s hands from around his waist and slips the bear in between his arms. Hyuck accepts the bear and leans his head on Jaehyun. The boy utters soft snores as he falls into a deep sleep.

Johnny, who has been watching the whole scene, coos at the sleeping boy. He takes out his phone and snaps a couple of photos. In the row in front of them Taeyong and Yuta turn around to see what all the snapping sounds were. They look at tiny Hyuck cuddling a teddy bear and can’t help but to say ‘aw’.

Johnny quickly looks up and stops taking pictures.
"He’s like a little baby! So cute!" Yuta whisper yells.

Everyone else in the car now tries to get a look at the maknae, taking pictures of their own. With all the noise Haechan starts to stir awake and everyone holds their breath. Haechan wiggles around a little before going right back to sleep.

Everyone sighs in relief before turning back and carrying on with what they were doing before.

Johnny sits there, stroking the boys hair while having a quiet conversation with Jaehyun. "I think this whole plan is going well" Johnny confesses.

Jaehyun agrees and they sit back admiring the boy.

Chapter 4: What did he just call us??

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The van stops and everyone rushes out, eager to get ready for bed. Jaehyun lightly shakes Haechan, "Haechanie come on. Let’s go"

Haechan whines and cuddles even closer to his hyung, he was completely worn out from practice. Jaehyun tries again and this time the boy whines even louder.

"Haechan-ah" Jaehyun says more sternly.

The maknae groans and slowly wakes up enough to follow Jaehyun out the van. He stands on the pavement, pouty and cold.

Johnny is the last member to exit the vehicle. He steps out from the back seat and follows the duo onto the cold pavement.

Haechan groans again, his eyes were half open and he was still clutching the teddy bear. He decides that walking is to much work and makes grabby hands towards Johnny to carry him. Johnny is quick and takes no time to lift the tiny boy.

Haechan wraps his legs around Johnny's waist and nuzzles deep in his neck before falling asleep again. Johnny lightly chuckles at the sound of snoring in his ear. He must be really tired, he thinks to himself.

Jaehyun comes up behind Johnny and puts his hand on his lower back. He guides his friend towards the door of the building as they begin their journey to the dorm.

~

They make it to the dorm and walk inside. Everyone was getting ready for bed, putting on their pjs or taking showers.

Jaehyun is quick to help Johnny open the door to Mark and Haechan’s shared room. When they get inside they notice Mark wasn’t there. He must be in the shower, they think to themselves.

Johnny bends down and gently lays Hyuck on the bed. "Should we put on his pjs?" Johnny questions.

Jaehyun looks at him for a second before looking at Hyuck in his dirty work out clothes. He nods and goes to the drawer to fetch some pajamas. He settles on a cute pair of penguin pjs and throws them to Johnny.

They carefully take of the dirty clothes and put on the nice and clean pjs without waking the super sleepy hyuck. They sigh in relief once they accomplish the task.

Johnny discards of the dirty clothes in the hamper adjacent to the bed. He then goes back to Hyuck’s side, slowly stroking the boys hair, "He’s so tiny" he states. Jaehyun chuckles at his friends sudden words. "Yeah he is."

Jaehyun suddenly remembers something, "Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you something" Johnny hums in response "Who would be daddy and who would be appa?"

Johnny freezes at the question, he never really thought about that. He clears his throat "Well I feel like I really suit the daddy image" he says half jokingly. Jaehyun scrunches his nose, "Hm but I kinda think I fit the daddy image. I feel like appa suits you more"

Johnny raises his eyebrow, completely disagreeing with the statement. They argue about it for a little before they hear a tiny whine. They look over at the tiny boy who was currently shifting around.

"Daddy. Appa. Too loud." He says half asleep while rolling over so his back was facing them.

Jaehyun and Johnny look at each other with wide eyes before looking back at Hyuck. Did they hear that correctly? Did he just say what they think he said? They stand there shocked.

Jaehyun lightly taps the sleeping boy, ”Haechan-ah What did you just say?"

No response.

"Haechanie?"

Nothing.

Jaehyun sighs, defeated. He still can’t believe his ears and by the looks of his friend he could tell he too was in disbelief.

"Um why are you guys here?"

Both guys jump at the voice and turn around to see a very confused mark with a towel around his waist.

Jaehyun looks at Johnny to answer. Johnny panics slightly but tries his best to keep his composure, "Uh nothing. What are you doing here?"

Johnny mentally face palms at the stupid question. Mark raises his eyebrow, "This is my room" he states bluntly. Why were his hyungs acting so suspicious?

He leans to the side and takes a look at Haechan’s bed to see a tiny sleeping Hyuck.

"Did you guys carry him up here?"

Both boys nod.

"And what about the pjs? Did you change him?" He ask with an indescribable look.

"Uh yeah kind of" Jaehyun says now scared of Marks many questions.

Mark looks the duo up and down through squinted eyes, "Is there something your not telling us? You guys have been acting strange since this morning."

Johnny and Jaehyun stand there, unable to move or answer. Should they tell him?

"And what does Haechan have to do with all this?" He adds while waving his hand in their general direction.

Mark stands there, waiting patiently for an answer. Johnny clears his throat, "Well if you must know Mark..." Jaehyun cuts him off by grabbing his arm. He shakes his head at him as if to say ‘what are you doing? Are you crazy?’

Johnny yanks his arm back and pays him no mind, "If you must know, we were simply being good hyungs. Haechan is our maknae and it’s our duty to take care of him. It’s kinda offensive how suspicious you are when we are just trying to be good brothers" he states with a dramatic huff. He quickly grabs Jaehyun’s arm and drags him out the room before Mark could say anything else.

Mark is at a lost for words as he stands there. He sighs and goes to put on pyjamas.

Once he’s done he goes to sit beside Hyuck, gently rubbing circles on his back. Maybe he was being overdramatic? There really wasn’t anything wrong with what his hyungs did, they were just taking care of the boy.

But he couldn’t stop this growing feeling he had, like he wanted to just yell at his hyungs to stay away.

He’s supposed to be the one taking care of Hyuck and he’s supposed to be the one Hyuck clings to not Johnny or Jaehyun. He lets out another sigh. He needed to stop thinking like this, his hyungs have every right to want to take care of a cute clingy Haechan. Maybe he’ll get over this feeling? He hopes.

Mark gives Hyuck one last look before getting up and going to his side of the room. He turns off the lights and tries his best to get comfortable to fall asleep.

Meanwhile in the room across the hall, Johnny and Jaehyun converse about their previous encounter with mark.

"Do you think he believed me?" Johnny ask while putting on his pjs.

Jaehyun nods, " oh totally! Did you see his face? He had to have believed you! You seemed pretty upset to me."

"Good. Now maybe he’ll stop being so suspicious."

"Yeah let’s hope"

Jaehyun goes to turn the lights off and both boys climb into their respective bed. Johnny falls asleep first and Jaehyun soon does too.

~

Not even an hour into his deep sleep and Johnny is already waking up. He feels the bed dip as a figure slowly cuddles up against him.

"Hyung I had a bad dream. Can I sleep here?" He hears a tiny voice that he has concluded to be Haechan’s say.

He lifts his arm up for the boy to cuddle closer and pulls him into a tight hug, "yes that’s okay. Goodnight." He says already falling back asleep

"Goodnight hyung"

Notes:

Now you know why Mark was being so weird! Lol

 

Chapter 5: Mark is suspicious

Chapter Text

Mark wakes up to the smell of eggs and coffee. He slowly arises from his bed and checks his phone for the time.

It was 11am.

He stretches a little before turning to see if Haechan was awake yet.

He furrows his brows. Where was his roommate?

He quickly gets up from his bed. Maybe he woke up earlier, he thinks. He walks to the kitchen and is greeted by Taeyong who was currently scrambling some eggs.

He looks around the room to see all the members except for three people. He sighs in frustration, everyone at the table gives him weird looks.

"Everything alright, Mark?" Doyoung questions

Mark speaks through gritted teeth, "Yeah, everything’s great. I’m just gonna go wake up the rest of the members"

He speed walks to his hyungs room, not even noticing the concerned expression on Doyoung’s face.

He turns the knob and opens the door without knocking. He’s met with the trio still sound asleep, Jaehyun on the top bunk and Haechan cuddling with Johnny.

He walks over to the two cuddling and looks at them through squinted eyes. He then takes a step back and let’s out a sigh. "Calm yourself mark. Deep breathes" he says to himself

Jaehyun begins to turn and wake up from the sound. Mark sees this and quickly slaps his hands over his mouth. He curses to himself, he should’ve been more quiet.

"Mark?"Jaehyun asks while slowly opening his eyes.

"Uh y-yes?"

"Good morning" he says ignoring the fact that Mark was suspiciously in their room.

Mark runs his fingers through his hair nervously, "I came to wake up Haechan but I guess you can do that"

He dashed out of the room and quickly sits back in the kitchen.

Jaehyun raises his eyebrow. What was wrong with him? Maybe he was still suspicious after last night. Jaehyun sighs, I’ll just have to talk to him later, he thinks.

He slowly climbs down the side of the top bunk. He goes to the duos bedside and gently taps Johnny’s shoulder, "Hyung? Hyung?"

Johnny groans and so does the boy cuddled up against him.

"Hyung wake up" Jaehyun whines

Johnny opens his eyes and looks for the person who disturbed his sleep. He locks eyes with Jaehyun and gives him an icy glare.

Jaehyun doesn’t care and continues, "hyung come on"

Johnny gives up and decides to get up. He slowly wiggles himself free from the maknaes clutches, trying his best not to wake him up.

Haechan feels Johnny slipping away from him and starts to whimper, "Hyungie no" he whines while making grabby hands at him. Johnny looks at the boy and pats his head "As much as I’d love to cuddle all day, Jaehyun is right we need to wake up."

Haechan continues to whine and looks at his hyung with puppy dog eyes.

"Well okay maybe five more minutes"

Haechan smiles at his victory while Jaehyun looks at his hyung in shock, "Hyung no we need to get ready for practice soon. And me and you have some stuff to discuss"

Johnny rolls his eyes and let’s out another groan "Fine!"

He gets up out of bed and stretches his limbs. He then turns to the maknae and goes to pick him up, "Come on little one" he says softly while Haechan lay his head on Johnny’s shoulder. He was still whiny and pouty from not being able to cuddle longer but being carried was nice.

As the trio make their way to the bedroom door Jaehyun whispers something in Johnny’s ear, "We’ll talk about what Haechan said last night later"

Johnny nods his head. What they both didn’t know is that the maknae heard the whole sentence. "What did I say last night?"

The two boys freeze, "Uh n-nothing" Jaehyun stutters.

Haechan squints his eyes, "Hyungs tell me right now." He demands

Johnny raises his eyebrow and lightly taps the boys bum, "Haechan-ah is that anyway to talk to your hyungs"

"No... I’m sorry." He pouts "But I still wanna know what I said."

Johnny decides to put the boy down so he was standing in front of him. He then looks to Jaehyun, not knowing if they should tell him or not. Jaehyun nods his head, "I think we should tell him"

Haechan starts to whine again, he was really anxious, "Tell me what? Did I say something bad?"

Jaehyun is quick to respond, "Oh no no Hyuckie, it was nothing bad, actually it was something kinda good?" He says the last part as more of a question.

He sighs, "Last night... you kind of called Johnny and I... Daddy and appa"

Silence. Haechan froze.

His cheeks heated up and he looked like he was about to die of embarrassment.

"Haechanie?" Johnny questions

"Haechan-ah"

Haechan doesn’t answer. Instead he sprints out of the room and quickly goes to his own, slamming the door.

Both hyungs look at each other in despair. Johnny groans, "Damn it!" He puts his head in his hands before looking up at Jaehyun.

"We should’ve never said anything. It’s only been a day and our plan is already ruined"

He then paces back and forth and runs his hands through his hair furiously. Jaehyun stood there and watched his angered friend with worry.

"I’m sorry! It was my fault... I-"

Jaehyun suddenly feels a tear run down his cheek. He goes to quickly wipe it away but Johnny notices and walks up to him, "Oh no Jaehyun-ah don’t cry. It’s okay" he tries his best to comfort him.

"It’s not your fault. It’s okay, I didn’t mean to get angry."

Jaehyun just stands there, continuously wiping at his eyes. Johnny then wraps him in a big hug and rubs his back, "Listen, we can talk to him later. The plan can still work."

Jaehyun takes a deep breath and calms himself down. He nods his head at Johnny’s words. Maybe they could salvage what was left of their so called "plan".

"Guys come have breakfast before we leave!" Taeyong yells

The duo sighs and Jaehyun wipes away the last of his tears before they head to the kitchen. They look at everyone as they take a seat.

"Where’s hyuck?" Taeil questions

Jaehyun looks down at the table, "In his room"

Taeil nods before yelling, "HAECHAN-AH"

"Hyuckie come have breakfast!" Taeyong adds

They hear the creek of a door opening and footsteps down the hall. Haechan slowly enters the kitchen making sure to avoid eye contact with Johnny and Jaehyun.

"Come sit down. Taeyong hyung made French toast and eggs" says Doyoung

Haechan makes his way to the table. Ploping down next to Mark, he’s handed a plate of food, and slowly begins to eat. He keeps his eyes on his plate, trying his best to tune everyone out.

Mark notices hyucks weird behavior. He watches him for little before asking quietly, "Haechan-ah are you okay?"

Hyuck gives him a side glance before nodding his head. He really didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. "Hyuck look at me."

The maknae slowly looks up.

"Are you sure you’re okay? You know you can tell me anything right?"

Everyone had now stopped with their conversations and they looked to see what the two were talking about. The whole table was quiet, studying the boy and waiting for a response.

Johnny and Jaehyun knew what the problem was but wanted to see how he would respond.

Haechan sighs, "Hyung I’m fine. Just a little tired" he lies and then puts on a big smile "Why do you care so much? If I didn’t know any better I’d think you had a crush on me"

Mark pauses. He can feel his face turning as red as a tomato, "N-no I dont... I was just asking."

He turns back to eat his breakfast, avoiding the smirks everyone was giving him.

Johnny and Jaehyun watch as the maknae picks at his food, barley eating anything.

"Alright guys we should really start getting ready to leave. You know how our instructor gets when we’re late." says Taeyong

The members quickly get up and dump their dishes into the sink. Hyuck scrapes the last of his food in the trash before placing his plate with the others. He rushes out of the kitchen and to his shared room to get ready.

Mark is quick to follow him. Once inside he notices again the somber attitude of his friend. "You know Haechan-ah being grumpy isn’t good for you"

Hyuck rolls his eyes while putting on his socks "I’m not grumpy"

"Then what’s the problem? You seemed perfectly peaceful earlier this morning" He takes a second to think "Wait! Did Johnny and Jaehyun hyung do something to make you sad??"

Haechan looks up at Mark and gives him a baffled look, "Huh? Why do you think it’s the hyungs?"

Mark stays quiet and Haechan starts to walk over to him. He stands right in front of him and squints his eyes,"Did you check up on me this morning?"

Mark can already feel his brain starting to malfunction. Why did he have to mention them? He probably thinks he’s stalking his every move.

"I....I kinda did. Yeah"

Hyuck stares at him blankly. Mark can feel his body temperature rising as the seconds go by. The embarrassment of admitting that he snuck into his hyungs room to check on a sleeping Hyuck was settling in. The boy probably thinks he’s weird or worse...obsessed with him. Mark breaks eye contact with him and looks down at his sweaty hands.

Haechan let’s out a long sigh, "Hyung, you know you don’t have to worry about me all the time." He goes to put his hand on Marks shoulder "Thanks for checking up on me this morning and thanks for asking if I’m okay right now... but I’m fine. You can stop worrying"

Mark looks up at the younger with a look of relief. He’s glad hyuck didn’t feel freaked out by his actions. He decides that it’s best to let it go, if Haechan says he’s fine then he won’t question him any further.

"Okay... but if there ever is a problem you can talk to me. I’m here for you"

Haechan gives a weak smile, "Thanks hyung"

They then turn back to getting ready. Haechan grabs his phone and heads out the room to put on his shoes. The members slowly start to gather at the door.

Jaehyun quickly grabs his bag and contemplated if he should throw in the same things he packed for Hyuck yesterday. He sighs, "Do you think he’ll even talk to us today?"

Johnny scrambles to the bedroom door, ready to leave, "honestly I don’t know Jaehyun-ah. We’ll just have to see" he turns the knob "come on or else we’ll be super late"

Jaehyun decided not to pack anything for Hyuck. He grabs his phone and heads outside to the front door with Johnny. The members then all head to the van outside the dorm.

Everyone climbs in and Haechan decides to sit next to Jungwoo and Taeil. He pops in his headphones and tunes everyone out, lost in his thoughts. Jaehyun and Johnny sit in the back with Yuta in between. They both sneak glances at the maknae in the row in front. They sigh and decide to pop in their own headphones.

Johnny looks out the window thinking of ways he can talk to the maknae without freaking him out while Jaehyun scrolls through his phone for "parenting advice".

The rest of the members chatter amongst themselves but they can all sense that once again something weird was happening amongst the trio. Mark said he wouldn’t question Hyuck any further but now he’s noticing the weird behavior of his two hyungs. He is positive that something is wrong and won’t stop until he figures it out.

Chapter 6: Little space

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Practice went on for hours and Haechan managed to ignore Johnny and Jaehyun the whole time.

Each time the hyungs tried to approach him he would walk the other way.

~

Haechan tried his best to keep focused on what their instructor was saying but he couldn’t. His mind was racing with what his hyungs had said. Why would he call them that? He couldn’t wrap his head around it. Sure he saw them as "father figures" but to actually call them those names was just weird to him.

His hyungs probably thought he was weird too. Well at least he thought they did until he remembered something else Jaehyun had said.

He said that Hyuck hadn’t said anything bad and that it was actually "kinda good". What could that mean? Did his hyungs like that he called them by these names? He sighs and decides to take a mini break in the corner while their instructor talks to Taeyong.

He twiddles with his thumbs and sits criss crossed on the floor. He tries to work out his feelings towards the whole thing. Hyuck couldn’t deny that he liked being babied by his hyungs. Well he didn’t just like it... he loved it and he didn’t want it to stop.

He knew that he had to speak to them and clear things up if he ever wanted to go back to the nice and caring trio they had become the day before. But he was just too nervous. The words "Daddy" and "appa" replaying in his head. He couldn’t face them, not yet. He decides that he’ll try to talk to them in a couple days.

~

It was now the end of practice and everyone was piling back into the car. Hyuck again sitting next to Jungwoo and Taeil. He stares out the window, lost in his thoughts.

Meanwhile in the back Jaehyun was whispering something to Johnny, "He managed to ignore us the whole practice"

Johnny lets out an exasperated sigh and looks Jaehyun in the eyes, "I know. But it’s understandable that he needed time to process."

Jaehyun nods, "So do you think we should talk to him tonight or give him more time to think?"

Johnny ponders for a little. He doesn’t know if the maknae was ready to discuss the previous events but at the same time he knew if they didn’t speak now then things would just become worse.

"We should talk tonight... we need to figure all of this out as soon as possible"

Jaehyun agrees. At first he was wary too but now that he knows that Johnny wants to discuss tonight he was all on board.

The van stops and everyone rushes out. They head up to the dorm and Taeyong is already at the stove getting things ready for dinner. The duo decide that this was the perfect time to talk to the maknae.

They head to his room and see Mark showing Hyuck some picture on his phone. The two don’t notice the hyungs in their doorway as they continue to talk. Suddenly they hear someone clear their throat and they turn around.

Haechan locks eyes with Johnny and then immediately looks away. Why were they here? He wasn’t ready to talk to them.

"Uh Mark is it okay if we speak to Haechan alone?" Jaehyun questions

Mark squints his eyes and looks at his two hyungs before looking at Haechan, "I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me"

He gives Haechan one last look and a pat on the shoulder before walking out. But he doesn’t actually go to the kitchen instead he waits out in the hallway by the door to listen.

Jaehyun goes to sit next to Hyuck on his bed but Hyuck decides to scoot away from him. He tries his best not to look at him too, keeping his eyes glued to his hands like they were the most interesting things in the world.

Johnny goes to sit in the desk chair opposite the bed and runs his hands through his hair, "Haechan-ah we really need to talk about everything"

"About what? I don’t know what you’re talking about"

Johnny sighs, "Come on Hyuck...I know you might be feeling a little embarrassed but trust me you shouldn’t."

"Yeah Hyuckie it’s okay. We didn’t mind that you called us that" Jaehyun adds. He tried to avoid saying the two names as to not make the boy feel more uncomfortable.

Haechan shakes his head, "No! How could I have said that? And why are you guys okay with it?? Aren’t you freaked out??"

"No no Hyuckie we're not freaked out" Jaehyun says while scooting closer to the boy and taking his hand. "We’re okay with it because... well... there’s this thing called.. little space"

Johnny takes in a sharp breath at the mention of little space. He didn’t know that Jaehyun was going to tell Haechan about it right in this moment. He looks to see the boys reaction.

Haechan looks up and tilts his head like a confused puppy, "L-little space? What’s that?"

Jaehyun looks to Johnny to continue to explain. Johnny looks at Hyuck and moves closer, taking his other hand. He then goes in depth to explain about age regression and how it can be used as a stress reliever and about being in headspace. After he was done explaining his essay worthy explanation Haechan snatches his hands away from the two and covers his face.

"You...you want me to act like a baby?!?" He says with his face still covered.

Johnny lightly chuckles, "I mean you kind of already act like one"

Haechan peaks at him through his fingers before crossing his arms and pouting, "Nuh Uh!"

Both hyungs laugh at this which only causes the maknaes pout to deepen. Jaehyun goes to stroke the boys hair, "You’re so cute Hyuckie." Johnny smiles and agrees. He then becomes more serious.

"How about this? We try out age regression for a little and if you don’t like it then we can stop." He suggest.

Haechan thinks about it. It would be nice to be babied all the time by his two favorite hyungs. Plus all the extra cuddles he would get. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? He looks at the both of them before shyly nodding.

Jaehyun couldn’t help the big smile he had on his face, "Great! We can take things slow, okay?"

Haechan nods again, thinking about this whole new world he was stepping into. "So the both of you will be my... caregivers?" He ask, unsure of the new word.

Jaehyun nods, "Yes Hyuckie. The two of us will be taking care of you"

Haechan let’s that information sink in before pointing to Johnny, "Daddy" and then pointing to Jaehyun "Appa".

Both hyungs were overjoyed with the boys words. Johnny nudges jaehyun with his elbow, "See! I told you I gave off more daddy vibes than you"

Hyuck hides his face in his hands again while Jaehyun smirks and then smacks Johnny's arm,
"Whatever"

Haechan looks up again,"So I would only call you guys that while in...uh what was it?...
h-headspace??"

"Yes. Unless you want to call us that outside of headspace?" Johnny tries. Haechan quickly shakes his head, "No no...hyung is fine"

"Okay"

Johnny thinks for a bit before saying, "How about tomorrow we can have a test run??" He looks at Hyuck with hopeful eyes "Tomorrow is a free day and the group was talking about going to visit Baekhyun hyung but how about us three stay home and you can try being in headspace?"

Haechan looks at his hyungs unsure. Didn’t they just tell him that they would take things slow?? He didn’t know if he was ready for this but looking at their faces he could see how desperate they were to try this as soon as possible. He sighs, "Okay hyung... we can try"

Jaehyun and Johnny smile at the maknae.

"But if i don’t like it we can stop, right??" Hyuck questions just to make sure.

"Yes of course. Our top priority is that you are comfortable"

Haechan smiles at that and says a soft okay.

"DINNERS READY" Taeyong screams

They all look towards the sound before slowly getting up and heading for the door. Before Johnny can turn the knob Hyuck grabs his arm,"Wait! Can we keep this between us? Like not tell any of the other hyungs?"

Johnny nods his head and Jaehyun pats the boys back, "Of course hyuckie"

But what they didn’t know is that someone else already knew and he was still listening to the conversation until he heard the door slightly open. Mark dashed away from the door and towards the kitchen.

He sits down, his mind was racing with all the information he had just heard. So Haechan was now like Johnny and Jaehyuns child? He was confused about the new dynamic and what it meant. He wasn’t sure if he should ask them about it or not.

He watches as the trio walk into the kitchen and sits down. Mark quietly grabs a plate of food and begins eating while still keeping his eye on them. He sees when Johnny clears his throat to grab everyone’s attention before saying, "Guys I know we were all supposed to visit Baekhyun hyung tomorrow but Hyuck isn’t feeling to well so I think Jaehyun and I will stay to look after him"

Mark widens his eyes at this. He knew his hyung was lying. He knew the real reason they wanted to stay home. Taeyong goes to feel Haechan’s forehead, "You don’t feel warm. Are you sure Hyuck?"

Haechan looks up at him nervously, "Uh y-yes hyung. My stomach hurts really bad and I have a headache" he makes sure to throw in a pout.

Taeyong retracts his hand before looking at the maknae sadly, "Well okay. If you’re really not feeling well I guess you can stay." He looks at Johnny and Jaehyun "Make sure he gets lots of rest, okay?"

"Okay"

Marks watches the exchange before jumping into the conversation, "How about I stay too? You know to help look after Hyuck?"

The trios eyes go wide at the idea of Mark staying behind. Haechan can’t even bare the thought of his Mark hyung finding out about little space. What would he think? He wasn’t ready for his best friend to look at him differently.

Jaehyun is quick to deny him, "No that’ll be okay Markie. Two people is already enough. Thank you though"

"Yeah Mark and you know how much Baekhyun hyung misses you. He wouldn’t shut up about it" adds Taeyong.

Mark sighs, it was worth trying. He decides that he’ll give them some time before they tell the group about everything. He could hear how scared and nervous Haechan had sounded when he asked the hyungs to keep it a secret. The last thing he wants is for Hyuck to feel uncomfortable...so he’ll wait.

Notes:

New chapter! I’ve been writing a lot recently so there’ll be lots of new chapters ;)

Chapter 7: Little Haechan’s first day

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Everyone was rushing to finish getting ready. They said they would meet baekhyun at 11am and it was already 10:30am.

Taeyong slowly opens the door to the maknaes room and peeks inside. He sees a tiny Hyuck curled up in a little ball on his bed. He walks over and sits next to him.

Taeyong reaches out his hand to feel the maknaes forehead one more time but stops when Hyuck squirms and turns around. He looks him in the eyes with a sad face.

"Hyung it hurts" Haechan says weakly. He was getting better at his acting. He knew he needed to really convince Taeyong that he indeed was still feeling ill.

"Aw hyuckie. Where does it hurt?"

Haechan points to his stomach and Taeyong goes to rub the boys belly. "I’ll make sure to tell Jaehyun and Johnny to give you medicine and to make sure you get a lot of rest, okay?"

Haechan nods his head and Taeyong retracts his hand. He bends down to give the maknae a kiss on his forehead before saying goodbye and heading for the front door.

Jaehyun and Johnny were up and about making sure that the members were packed and ready to go. They wanted everyone to leave as soon as possible so they could start their day with Hyuck.

Taeyong grabs Jaehyuns arm before he heads out the door, "The medicine is in the bathroom cabinet. Make sure to give it to him and make sure he drinks lots of water"

Jaehyun rolls his eyes, "Hyung I know how to take care of him. He’ll be okay. I promise."

Taeyong gives him one last look before letting go. He turns around and heads for the van.

Mark was the last to leave. He was still in his room making sure Hyuck was as comfortable as possible. Even though he knew the boy wasn’t really sick he still wanted to play along. "Are you sure your comfy Hyuck?"

Haechan looks at him while holding the sunflower pillow he had brought him, "Yes hyung, I’m comfy. Thank you so much for this pillow. It’s really cute"

Mark grins, "No problem Haechanie" he ruffles the boys hair "Feel better"

He then leaves the room, waves goodbye to his hyungs, and heads for the van.

Johnny and Jaehyun look out the window to ensure that the van had left before running to the maknaes room.

They rush in and sit next to maknae, way to excited for the boy to handle. Haechan sits there looking at them, confused.

"So how do we start?" He questions, completely unsure of everything right now.

"Mm let’s start by changing you into a cute onesie and then we can get breakfast" Jaehyun starts

He gets up and heads to the boys drawer in search for the clothing piece. He lands his eyes on a cute bunny onesie, takes it out and hands it to the boy to change.

Haechan awkwardly takes the piece of clothing before getting up to change. He was having trouble unbuttoning his pj shirt.

"Do you need help haechanie?" Johnny ask. Haechan blushes but nods.

Johnny goes and helps the boy undress and redress in the bunny onesie.

"Aw cute!" Jaehyun squeals

Haechan hides his face and Johnny chuckles. He
then takes the boys hand and leads him to the kitchen.

Jaehyun runs to his room to get something before joining them in the kitchen. He approches Hyuck with something hidden behind his back, brings the item forward and gives it to him. It was the bear from the night before.

Hyuck takes the bear and looks at it before hugging it tightly. "Thank you!"

Johnny starts preparing a bowl of oatmeal for the maknae while Jaehyun sits at the table across him.

"So hyuckie does your bear have a name?"

Haechan looks down at the bear and thinks for a little before looking up at Jaehyun excitedly, "Sunny! Because I’m fullsun so he can be Sunny!"

"That’s so cute baby! Such a great name!" Jaehyun cheers.

Haechan smiles at the praise and at the name he had just been called. Being called "baby" made him feel so tiny and he loved it.

"Thank you appa!"

Jaehyun is startled by the name but is quick to show the boy a big grin. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard? Haechan already seems to be becoming more comfortable with this, he thinks.

Johnny finally joins them at the table with a bowl of oatmeal. He placed it in front of Hyuck with a spoon. The two watch as Hyuck just sits there, not eating.

"Aren’t you gonna eat hyuckie?" questions Johnny.

Hyuck pouts before pointing to the food and then pointing to Johnny. Johnny was confused for a second but then he understood. He grabbed the spoon, filled it with oatmeal, and feed it to him.

Haechan smiled and then opened his mouth for another bite. Johnny continued to feed the boy until the bowl was clean.

"All done!" he sings

Haechan claps his hands and laughs. He could slowly feel that something was different about him. He felt so small and honestly he had forgotten his actual age.

Jaehyun and Johnny also could feel that the boy was slowly slipping. His behavior was starting to become quite different.

"So baby what do you wanna do next?" Jaehyun ask. There wasn’t much to do because they haven’t bought any toys yet but they could try and have fun.

Haechan puts on his serious thinking face before answering. Which the two thought was super cute. They watched as the boy scrunched up his little nose and furrowed his brows.

"I really wanna draw please" he answers after some time

"Okay!"

Jaehyun takes the boys hand and leads him to the living room while Johnny goes to fetch some paper and crayons.

It was at this moment Haechan could feel he wasn’t twenty year old Haechan anymore. He felt like he was at least four. He sits down on the floor next to Jaehyun and looks at him. He really wanted to ask him something. He didn’t know why but his mind was racing with so many questions.

"Appa?" Haechan says while cutely tilting his head

"Yes, baby?"

"How come daddy is so tall?"

Jaehyun laughs at the random question which only causes Hyuck to be more confused. How could someone be so adorable?

"I don’t know hyuckie. Maybe we should ask him"

Haechan nods his head and Johnny reappears with the coloring materials. He sets them down on the table in front of Hyuck. He had brought lots of paper and an assortment of coloring utensils.

He then sits on the couch opposite the boy, waiting for him to begin. But is confused once again when he just sits there and instead stares at him with a mirroring confused expression.

"Daddy? Why are you so tall?" He ask, hoping to actually get an answer.

Johnny looks at Jaehyun before looking back at Hyuck. Is this why he looked so confused? Cute.

"Well when daddy was a baby, like you, I ate lots of veggies and then grew big and strong"

Haechan makes a disgusted face. He scrunches up his nose and shakes his head, "But veggies are yucky"

"No they can be really tasty and they help you grow strong"

Haechan shakes his head again, completely unconvinced, "Ew! I’d rather stay tiny forever"

Trying to convince a child that veggies were good for you was a lost cause so Johnny laughs and sits back on the couch, defeated.

Hyuck sits criss cross on the floor in front of the table and gently lays his bear across his lap. Then he gets a piece of paper and a crayon to begin coloring. Little Hyuck already had the best idea ever for his drawing.

Whilst in the midst of his coloring frenzy he turns to see Jaehyun looking at his paper and goes to cover it, "Appa no look. It’s a surprise."

Jaehyun chuckles but gets up and sits next to Johnny on the couch. They sit and watch as Hyuck colors and spews out more random questions. They were beginning to learn that they had a very curious baby. Each time he asked something he would make his signature confused face, which the two couldn’t help but to gush over. The boy was way too cute for his own good.

They tried their very best to answer every question.They enjoyed how talkative Hyuck was...well until he had asked Jaehyun something completely unexpected.

"Appa? Are you and daddy married?"

Jaehyun was so taken back by the question. He blinked a couple times, in a state of shock. Johnny is quick to answer the little, "Uh no hyuckie we're not. Your appa and I are just friends"

Jaehyun looks at Johnny before quickly looking away. He doesn’t know why but hearing that kinda hurt. Johnny could sense Jaehyuns discomfort and curses to himself. He literally friend zoned him.

Honestly Johnny felt opposite to what he had said. He never really thought deeply about it before but he did kinda like Jaehyun as more than a friend. He wishes he hadn’t just spewed out the first words that had popped into his head.

Haechan looks at them with that same quizzical look, "But how are you my daddy and appa but your not married?"

Jaehyun sighs while still looking in the opposite direction. This kid sure had a lot of questions. Johnny was at a lost and didn’t know how to answer.

"Honestly baby I don’t know" he says truthfully.

Hyuck sighs but decides to take this as an answer and continues drawing. Jaehyun was growing more upset by the minute. Did Johnny really only see him as a friend?

Suddenly Haechan holds up his drawing, "Looky! It’s me, daddy, appa, and sunny!" He says with a twinkle in his eyes.

Johnny claps, "Wow hyuckie! You’re such a great drawer!"

Haechan giggles at this and then looks to his appa, waiting for a reaction. But instead of praising the little Jaehyun storms out the room and into his own.

Hyuck makes a little gasp and that twinkle in his eyes disappears. He puts his drawing down and pouts, "Appa no like my drawing?"

Johnny is quick to answer the boy, "No baby he just went to get his phone to take a picture of your beautiful drawing"

Haechan lifts his head and the twinkle is back, "Really?!?"

"Yeah! Im just gonna go help him find it. So I need you to stay right here, okay?"

Haechan nods his head excitedly, "Okay!"

Johnny runs to his shared room and opens the door. He sees Jaehyun sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. He approaches him, "Jaehyun-ah, you made hyuckie so sad when you left like that."

Jaehyun groans, "I know I didn’t mean to be so dramatic but I needed to collect my thoughts"

"I-is it because of what I said?" Johnny says with a frown. He didn’t mean to upset the younger like this. He wishes he could take back what he said. Truthfully ever since their debut Johnny always felt a special connection with Jaehyun. He was always there for him when things got too tough, which he greatly appreciated. He was also the one to make Johnny laugh no matter what the situation.

He watches as the other shifts uncomfortably. Jaehyun tries to look anywhere but at his hyung, "it might be about what you said... yes"

Johnny goes to sit next to him, "Listen, I didn’t really mean It. It was the first thing that popped in my head and I just blurted it out. I’m sorry." he pauses for a moment "truthfully I kinda see you as more than a friend..."

Jaehyuns mind goes blank. He could feel his ears turning a deep red. Did Johnny just confess to him? He turns to look at the other, "Really? Because I see you as more than a friend too"

Johnny stares into the others eyes. He never imagined that Jaehyun would confirm his feelings towards him. He slowly starts to lean in, the gap between them becoming thinner and thinner.

Jaehyun starts to lean too even though he was super nervous. He could feel his heart beating rapidly and his palms were sweaty but that didn’t stop him from reaching out to hold the others hand as their lips were almost touching ... until they hear a big thud followed by loud cries.

The duo halt.

Johnny barely had time to process as Jaehyun was already on his feet running towards the noise.

Haechan sat on the floor in front of the table like his daddy told him. But as he sat he got bored and decided to take himself to the kitchen, still clutching his teddy bear.

He looked around and thought to himself that this would be the perfect time for candy. He knew that Jungwoo had a secret stash at the top of the cabinet.

He ran to the kitchen table to lay down his bear, "Sunny I need you to stay here" he says while making a ‘serious’ face. He then turns to the cabinet and begins his quest for candy. He starts by trying to climb up onto the counter and reaching his arm up to grab the jar. But luck wasn’t on his side as his foot slips and he’s tumbling to the ground with a loud thump.

He had hit his knee pretty bad and it hurt a lot. He whimpers when he tries to get up, the pain was too much and he begins to cry.

Jaehyun is first to reach the kitchen. He sees the boy crying on the floor and rushes over to him. He cradles him, "Hyuckie what happened?!"

Johnny finally makes it to the room and crouches beside the pair with a worrisome look. Haechan tries his best to answer through sobs, "I...I fell from up... there" he points to the counter.

The duo look to were he’s pointing, "Aw baby why were you up there??"

Haechan sniffles, "Candy" he simply states.

Jaehyun sighs before inspecting the boy for injury’s when he spots a little tear on his onesie on his knee. "Aw no...I think you scraped your knee"

He sits the boy up, unzips his onesie, and helps him out of it to get a better look at the scratch. Now that Hyuck was in nothing but his boxers he could see that he did have a little cut and it was bleeding.

Jaehyun shoots Johnny a look and Johnny takes this as his que to pick the boy up. He picks him up bridal style and carries him to the bathroom. Meanwhile Jaehyun runs to his room to grab a shirt for Hyuck and meets them in the bathroom. He helps Hyuck put on the shirt and begins to look for the first aid kit.

Johnny cradles the boy and rubs his back, trying to soothe his cries. It hurt him to see his baby so upset.

Jaehyun pops open the kit and takes out the hydrogen peroxide to clean the cut. He dabs it on a cotton ball and approches the crying boy, "Hyuckie this is going to sting a little, okay?"

Haechan looks at him with fear in his eyes. He shakes his head, "No! No Appa! No!" He begs while trying to escape from Johnny’s lap. Johnny wraps his arms around his waist to keep him secure. The boy was really trying his best but it was no use, his daddy was way too strong. He sits back, defeated, and starts to whimper.

"Hyuckie I know your scared but It’ll only sting a little. We need to clean your cut or else it’ll get infected." Jaehyun informs

To say Haechan was upset was an understatement. Couldn’t his appa see that? He lets out a heavy breath before giving his appa an angry look. Truthfully he didn’t have any fight left in him, from the falling and all the crying he was pretty tuckered out. Hyuck decides to give up and instead buries his head in the crook of Johnny’s neck. He closed his eyes, tears quietly streaming down and waits for this so called ‘sting’ of the peroxide.

The painfully patient Jaehyun takes this as his que to work quickly. He gently dabs the cotton ball over the cut and makes sure to clean it thoroughly. The flinch by the little doesn’t go unnoticed as Johnny continuously rubs the boys back for extra comfort. Jaehyun then nicely lays a bandaid over the cut and lets out a sigh of relief before discarding of all the medical materials.

"See hyuckie that wasn’t so bad, right?" He ask while filing away the first aid kit. When he hears nothing but silence he turns around. He raises his eyebrow before going to look at the boy on the others lap.

"Ah I think he fell asleep" he whispers.

Their poor baby had really cried himself to sleep. Jaehyuns heart ached at the thought. If only he hadn’t run away and caused Johnny to leave Hyuck by himself then this wouldn't have happened.

~

They bring Hyuck to his room, lay him down, and tuck his teddy bear under his arms.

While in the kitchen the two sit and wait. The other members should be back anytime now. The time had passed so quickly, it was already mid afternoon.

"Poor baby didn’t even get to have lunch" Sighs Jaehyun. He sits in silence thinking of how their baby got hurt. This was supposed to be their test day and already something went wrong. It was unbelievable.

Johnny waves his hands at the other to gain his attention. He could tell what Jaehyun was thinking. He had that look on his face, that look of pure guilt. When in reality he shouldn’t. It was no ones fault really. Just an unfortunate series of events.

"Jaehyun I know what your thinking and you need to stop. Hyuckie is alright. It was just a little cut"

"I know but it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t run off"

Johnny grabs the others hand, "But you ran off because of me. You had a valid reason. Don’t stress too much, okay? Hyuckie will be fine when he wakes up"

Jaehyun sighs but ultimately gives up.

"Okay"

Notes:

Isn’t little Hyuck cute? He’s very curious lol. He’ll be asking lots more crazy questions in future chapters. ;)

Chapter 8: Taeyong is suspicious

Chapter Text

The pair sit silently in the dining room. Jaehyun kept replaying the events that had happened before Haechan got hurt. The kiss was interrupted. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. He wanted to address the situation but couldn’t find the right words. Each time he built the slightest courage to say something to the older, his words would get caught in his throat, and he’d give up. It was hopeless.

Johnny, on the other hand, was thinking of Haechan. He had long forgotten about the kiss. Instead, his mind was racing with the screams of his poor baby. He never wanted to hear those cries again. When he willingly threw himself into the father role, he only thought of the good things, like playing with your kids, buying them ice cream, and watching movies. He completely glossed over the whole part where they'd be crying. The look on hyucks face, the sadness in his eyes, hurt his heart. All he could think about was how always to make hyuckie happy.

The two caregivers are silent for a couple more minutes before Johnny speaks up, "Should we check on Hyuck?"

Jaehyun blinks a couple of times. He was completely immersed in his thoughts and wasn’t expecting to hear the low voice that is Johnny Suh. He opens his mouth to answer, but before he can, they hear the front door jingle a little before they hear the knob turning. The two look at each other, bewildered. Who was it?

They hear the door bursting open, followed by numerous footsteps and loud laughter. "We’re home!" A voice yells, seemingly growing louder as the footsteps approach the kitchen.

Taeyong pops his head into the doorway. "Hello~" he sings with a smile. The rest of the members flood into the kitchen, each grabbing a chair around the table. Johnny and Jaehyun glance at each other in panic. They knew the members would be home soon, but they thought they’d at least have another hour to help Haechan out of little space.

Jaehyun nervously smiles at the leader, "Hey. Aren’t you guys home a little early?"

"Yeah, I thought you weren’t supposed to be back for another hour," Johnny adds

Taeyong scoffs while leaning on the counter, "Yeah, well, Baekhyun Hyung forgot about his other schedule, and we had to leave early."

Johnny mentally slaps himself; he needs to get to haechans room quickly. Jaehyun was thinking the same thing. They needed to hurry before the boy woke up or before anyone went to his room, especially Mark. Taeyong quickly looks around the room and notices something, "Where’s Hyuck?"

Jaehyun could feel his face sweaty at the mere mention of the maknae's name, "Oh, he’s just sleeping. Remember hyung? You told me to make sure he gets lots of rest."

The leader nods; of course, he remembers. He looked at the two and sensed that something was off. He needed to check on Hyuck himself; he knew he was the only person in this dorm who could adequately care for members when they were sick. "I think I’m gonna go check on him," he states, already headed around the table.

Johnny and Jaehyun quickly shake their heads. Johnny was already standing up, ready to stop the tiny leader. "No, that won’t be necessary; I was already headed to his room to check on him."

Taeyong looks Johnny up and down and scrunches his eyebrows together. He’s never seen the tall male so jumpy. He was usually the calmest member; even when he was nervous, he kept quiet. Something weird was going on.

"Well, I’ll come with you then," he states while looking the other dead in the eye.

Johnny shakes his head and grows more annoyed by the second. Why wasn’t Taeyong listening to him? The rest of the members stare at the two, engrossed in the scene in front of them. "I said it’s fine," Johnny says through gritted teeth. The once mild scene, now growing more tense, was becoming too much for the members. Doyoung stands to say something to diffuse the situation, but before he can, they hear tiny footsteps down the hall.

The two males turn their heads to the sound, as do the others. What they see is a tiny Hyuck in the doorway of the kitchen. The still sleepy boy had his bear in one hand while the other rubbed away at his tired eyes. The members cooed at the sight. Yuta couldn’t help but be in awe at the tiny maknae, especially since his shirt was too big. It hit his knees and made him look even smaller.

They all watched as the boy hugged his bear tightly and pouted, "I woke up, and I was all alone," he said, almost on the brink of tears. He searches the room for his appa, paying no mind to anyone else once he spots Jaehyun sitting to the side. Hyuck runs over to him and plops on his lap, cuddling into his chest. Jaehyun holds the boy close and thinks of how he could dash out of there. He could tell Hyuck was still in little space and desperately hoped no one else could.

The tension that had consumed the room vanishes. Johnny and Doyoung sit down while Taeyong rushes over to the maknae. Johnny sits in panic, sneaking worried glances at Jaehyun.

Taeyong squats before the boy and gently pats his arm, "Haechan-ah, are you feeling any better?" He questions with a worried look. The sleepy maknae rubs his eyes before looking at his hyung quizzically. What was he talking about? Little Hyuck had no idea that he was supposed to be pretending to be sick. He takes a second to think before his brain registers the correct response. He finally figured it out; his hyung must be talking about the cut he got earlier, right? That was the only logical thing, he thought.

Jaehyun and Johnny hold their breath, waiting for the maknae to answer. Jaehyun was ready to take the boy and sprint out of the room if needed.

Hyuck looks at his hyung and nods, "I feel better, but it still hurts a little."

The caregivers let out a sigh of relief. So far, so good. Meanwhile, Taeyong is anything but relieved. They have practice tomorrow, and he couldn’t have Hyuck missing out because he was still sick. He rubs the boy's tummy, "Does it still hurt here?"

Hyuck looks down at his hyungs hand. What was he doing? Why would his tummy hurt? Didn’t his hyungie know about the cut on his knee? He tilts his head, "No, hyungie. It hurts here," he clarifies while pointing to the bandage on his knee. Taeyong looks to where the boy is pointing and sees the plain bandage. He furrows his brows in confusion, as do the rest of the members. He looks at Jaehyun and then Johnny, "How did this happen?" He inquires.

Johnny swallows harshly, "Well, he kinda fell from the kitchen counter and scraped his knee."

Taeyong gasped, temporarily forgetting the previous question about the boy's sickness. He turns to Hyuck, "What were you doing on the counter?"

Hyuck pouts. He didn’t want to get in trouble with his hyungie. He slowly looks him in the eyes, "To get candy."
Doyoung stands again, "The candy that Jungwoo has hidden on the top shelf?"

Jungwoo looks up at the sudden mention of his name before looking down, uninterested. Honestly, he had been half paying attention and didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. He didn’t mind if Haechan tried to sneak some of his candy.

Hyuck nods, avoiding any eye contact with his hyungs. Doyoung sighs, and so does Taeyong. The rest of the members could tell that a long nagging was coming.

Mark, sitting quietly watching, couldn’t help but think about how cute Hyuck looked right now. His little pout and the way he didn’t want to look at Taeyong in fear of being nagged were adorable to him. Everyone else had similar thoughts, especially Yuta.

Yuta didn’t know why, but lately, he couldn’t get enough of the maknae's cuteness. Sure, Haechan has always been cute, but these past few days, he’s been acting more and more like a cute baby. Something he did not mind.

Even though Yuta thought a pouty Hyuck was adorable, he also felt a happy Hyuck was even better, so he chimed in before the nagging began.

"Well, it’s alright, Haechan-ah. Right, Taeyong hyung?" He questions while looking at the leader, "I bet he has learned his lesson never to try to reach up in high places without one of his taller hyungs."

Taeyong thinks briefly before heavily sighing and turning his attention to Jaehyun. If he wasn’t going to lecture the maknae, he had to lecture someone. Jaehyun could sense his impending doom and decided that this was the perfect time to run.

"You know what, hyung, I think I’m going to take Hyuck back to his room and give him some more medicine so he can feel better tomorrow," he says while speeding up. He dashes out of the kitchen with Hyuck tightly in his arms and heads directly into Hachan's room.

Taeyong gets up from his crouched position and looks at Johnny with folded arms. Johnny looks between the members and Taeyong before also speedily getting up.

"I think I’ll go too," he stutters while running out of the kitchen.

Taeyong rolls his eyes and sits in the chair Johnny had left behind. Just another day being the leader, he thinks. Tomorrow at practice, he’ll ask about the trio's weirdness. He’ll make sure to ask Hyuck during break time. He knows his hyuckie would never lie to him, so he knows he’ll surely spill about why Johnny's been so jumpy, why Jaehyun always looks worried, and why suddenly he’s been acting more childish than usual.

Mark looks at his worn-out leader and thinks about how much the poor guy didn’t know what was happening between the trio. He knows he said he wouldn’t say anything, but he can’t leave Taeyong out of the loop. He decides he’ll tell him everything he heard tomorrow during practice.

Meanwhile, in Haechan's room, the trio sits on the boy's bed with Haechan tightly wrapped in jaehyuns arms. Jaehyun looks down at the maknae before looking up at Johnny. They knew they needed to help the boy out of little space, but they were somewhat nervous, considering it was their first time.

"So how should we do this?" Jaehyun questions.
Johnny shrugs. He’s never done this before. He wished they could leave him in little space for the rest of the night, but he knew that little Hyuck wouldn't be able to last the whole dinner without exposing his little identity. They got lucky a few minutes ago with the boy not mentioning his appa or daddy, but they couldn’t take that chance again.

Jaehyun sighs and decides to take the initiative. He gently taps the maknae, "Baby?" Hyuck looks up at his appa with curious eyes.

"Hyuckie, I’m going to need you to be a big boy now, okay?"

Hyuck raises his brow. What was his appa talking about? "But I am a big boy," he states like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. Jaehyun huffs, and Johnny laughs.

"No baby, I mean, we need you to be an adult, Haechan."

Hyuck stares at Jaehyun briefly before making a sour face and crossing his arms. "Why?~" he whines.

"Because we need you to have dinner without the others knowing about little you."

"Yeah, haechanie, you said you wanted us to keep this a secret," adds Johnny.

Haechan huffs and looks away from his caregivers. He didn’t want to be big right now. He wanted to stay little forever. Little Hyuck tried to reason in his head, thinking for a second. He finally pouts and utters a sharp ‘fine.’ The caregivers sigh in relief, and Haechan closes his eyes. He decides to count to ten and breathe in and out.

Jaehyun and Johnny watch their little one in confusion and fascination. After a few seconds, Hyuck opens his eyes and looks at Jaehyun.

"Haechan?" Jaehyun questions
"Yeah, yeah, it’s me, hyung," he answers

They smile at the maknae. That was easier than they thought. Sure, there was a little whining, but that was fine. At least now they had big Hyuck and wouldn’t have to stress about dinner. Jaehyun thinks about something and rubs Haechan back, "So Haechan-ah, how did you feel about today?"

Haechan shyly smiles. He thought today was one of the best days he had had in a while. Sure, he might have gotten hurt, but it felt nice to get taken care of afterward by his hyungs. It felt nice to get cared for all the time by his hyungs.

"It was nice," he admits. "It felt good to be pampered."

Johnny grins. He loved that Haechan wasn’t weirded out by everything and enjoyed being in little space. He looks over to Jaehyun, and they meet eyes, and by the twinkle he sees, he can tell that Jaehyun is thinking the same thing.

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door. The door slowly opens, and Doyoung walks into the room.

"Uh hey... Taeyong Hyung asked me to tell you guys that dinner is ready," he announces

"Okay, thanks. We’ll be there in a second," Johnny replies. Doyoung nods and heads out of the room.

The three gather and walk out of the room, sitting side by side at the dinner table. The members chatter, paying little attention to the three new guests. Even Mark and Taeyong didn’t give them the slightest bit of attention. Separately, they decided it would be best to leave them alone until dance practice the next day, Taeyong especially. He didn’t want to stress anymore for the night and wanted to enjoy his dinner peacefully.

And he did. He enjoyed his dinner completely stress-free. Everything went fine. He didn’t nag the Maknae or the two men who were supposed to be caring for him for the whole night. The only thing he did was make sure to check up on the youngest one more time after dinner before he headed off to bed.

 

~
The maknae lay awake in his bed. His caregivers were long gone and asleep. They had made sure to give him lots of kisses and hugs before leaving. They also made sure to assure Taeyong Hyung that they had indeed given him medicine.

Haechan chuckled lightly at the thought of his Taeyong hyung. That man was always so stressed and cared so much about him. He never really thought of it before, but Taeyong felt like a mother to him. He smiles, "Mom," he whispers before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep.

Chapter 9: The secret is out

Summary:

Hello!~ It’s been a long time since I’ve updated and I’m sorry! Schools been a lot lately lol! But here’s a new chapter! ^_^

Chapter Text

The sun shines brightly through the small crack in the shades, landing it’s rays perfectly on Haechan’s face. He twist and turns trying to avoid the intrusive light. But after he twist for the nth time he realizes it was no use and sits up in frustration. Haechan groans before slowly opening his eyes and stretching his arms. He search’s the bed for his phone and checks the time, 8am. Great, he thinks. There was still two hours until practice, how he wished he could’ve slept for another hour.

He gets up and walks to the window, grumpily opening the curtains. "You ruined my sleep" he whispers to the sun while making a sour face "I was dreaming about unicorns"

He pouts one last time before turning his attention to the other side of the room. He looks over at his sleeping hyung before walking over to him. "Mark hyung sure is cute when he sleeps" he whispers. Mark groans and slightly turns towards the whispering boy.

Haechan widens his eyes in panic before swiftly running to the door and out the room. He quickly makes his way down the hall and into his caregivers room. The door closed with a loud click as Haechan rest his forehead on it, letting out a sigh.

"Haechan?" He hears before quickly turning around. Johnny and Jaehyun both look at the boy with an eyebrow raise.

"O-oh hi hyungs" he says with a awkward smile and nod. "Why are you up so early?"

Jaehyun throws his blanket off him and goes down the ladder. "I always wake up at this time" he says while stretching. "Me too" Johnny adds

"Why have you rushed in here?" Jaehyun questions.

Haechan let’s out an awkward chuckle "I just came to wake you guys up and say good morning" he lies. Definitely not because he panicked and ran from Mark, he thinks to himself.

"Oh well good morning" Jaehyun says with a dimpled grin. He walks over to the maknae and engulfs him in a warm hug. Jaehyun could feel the boy melt into the tight grasp and chuckles before letting go, he watches as the small boy pouts at the loss of contact. Haechan puts his arms out for another hug but is sadly denied as Jaehyun laughs and shakes his head, "Go give Johnny hyung a good morning hug too. Think about how sad he is because he didn’t get one."

Haechan looks over the others shoulder a little and sees Johnny who was slightly slumped over with a frown, he even adds in some fake sniffles. Jaehyun tries to hide his laughs at his friends acting, he then quickly moves out of hyucks way. The boy pouts harder at the thought of making his Johnny hyung sad so he runs over to him, arms wide open, and gives him a big hug. "Please don’t be sad hyung"

Johnny wraps his arms around the boy and smiles, "Don’t worry hyuckie, hyung feels much better now!"

Haechan felt proud that he was able to make his hyung happy again but at this same moment he felt kinda weird. Like something in him wanted to come out? He doesn’t quite know. The smile he wore just a second ago was now replaced with a quizzical look as he backs out of the hug and sits directly infront of his hyung. Johnny raises his brow, "What’s wrong Hyuck?"

Jaehyun walks over to the two to see what the issue was. He stands there, arms folded, as he watches Haechan slightly tilt his head. He had on that look he does when he’s curious about something. "I don’t know what’s wrong it’s just that I feel kinda weird" he admits

The two look at each other in mild panic before looking back at the boy, "Weird, how?" They question. Haechan shrugs his shoulders, even he didn’t know how to explain it. He thinks for a little before answering, "Like somethings trying to come out? Or like I’m changing? Does that make sense?"

Jaehyun and Johnny share a knowing look, they knew what this was about. Jaehyun chuckles before sitting on the edge of bed and looking softly at the maknae, "Haechan-ah I think what your feeling is yourself trying to slip into little space"

Haechan looks at his hyung with curiosity, is this really what he was feeling? He wasn’t exactly an expert on age regression considering he had only done it once. But now that he thinks about it that first time he kinda felt like how he did now. Not quite in control of his body as he switches over. He sighs, his hyung was right.

"Hyung I think your right... but I can’t be little right now. We have practice!"

Jaehyun sighs and turns to Johnny, "He’s right. We have an 8hr practice today"

Damn, Johnny had completely forgotten it was an extend rehearsal. He groans before turning his attention to the maknae, "Alright hyuckie, you think you can control it?" He inquires. Oh how he wishes to have the maknae be in headspace today, since yesterday had some drama. But he knows it’s not possible with an eight freaking hour long practice.

Haechan pouts, "I mean I’m new to this but I guess I can try" It couldn’t be that hard... right? He thinks

The two smile at the boy. "What can we do to help?" Jaehyun ask

The boy sits and thinks for a little, making that cute little scrunched up face he does. "Mm well I guess you can not call me hyuckie?" He says as more of a question. That one nickname clearly seemed to be a weakness so why not start there, he thinks. The maknae looks up and notices Johnny’s frown. Johnny was clearly a fan of the cute name and really didn’t wanna give it up. Haechan slightly panics and quickly adds, "Well because it’s just really cute and makes me feel tiny"

Johnny sighs and pats the boys head before uttering a small okay. Haechan thinks a little more "Also maybe you guys can not talk to me as much during practice, being around you two makes me feel too cozy" he says shyly, blushing slightly at the last part.

"Ooohh we make you feel cozy?" Johnny teases while going to tickle the boy. Haechan pleads for him to stop. "Hyung! Hyung! Stop or I might slip" He yells in between giggles

Johnny immediately puts his hands to his sides before saying a small, "Sorry kinda forgot"

Jaehyun rolls his eyes with a big cheesy smile on his face. These two were too much to handle. He motions for Hyuck to stand, "Alright now that the fun is over its time for you to get dressed. We will try are best to not talk as much, okay?"

Hyuck stands obediently but upon hearing he had to get dressed he sits back down. He didn’t want to go back and face Mark. What if he actually heard him? He would die of embarrassment. He usually teases Mark, not tell him he’s a cute sleeper. The slight panic arises and he feels himself becoming whiny. "No I don’t wanna" he says while crossing his arms.

"And why not?" Jaehyun questions with a fold of his arms. He stares at the boy with a serious look saying that he wasn’t playing around. Haechan rethinks his defiance and quickly unfolds his arm before standing up, "On second thought I think I’ll be leaving now" he says while he rushes out the door. Jaehyun scoffs before smirking.

While walking across the hall Haechan made a mental note not to disobey his appa...wait he meant hyung. He groans "Come on Haechan, you can do this" he whispers while entering his room.

"Do what?" Mark questions as he puts his practice shirt on. Haechan stops in his tracks, hand still on the knob as he faces the Canadian boy. He mentally groans, "Oh nothing..." he says awkwardly with a small smile "Morning!" He adds while rushing over to get dressed.

Mark shakes his head at his roommates odd behavior and finishes getting ready. He sure didn’t forgot about his mission today. All last night he couldn’t stop thinking about how he would tell Taeyong about the trio. He decided that the best way to tell the leader was during their break time. He’d be quick and make sure to tell him every detail.....it was only the right thing to do.

Mark sits on the edge of his bed to put on his socks. He looks up for a second to see Haechan doing the same. When did this boy change? That was quick. Mark clears his throat to catch the others attention. Haechan looks up in surprise at the sudden noise, "Yes?"

"So how was your sleep?" Mark inquires while putting on his last sock.

Hyucks face softens, "oh well it was fine, dreamt of some unicorns"

Mark smiles at that. This boy was just too cute. Speaking of cute, Mark smirks. "Hm so where were you this morning? I feel like I heard someone run out the room"

Haechan gulps. Ah shit.

"W-what are you talking about?"

Damn it Haechan, why did you stutter?? Now he knows that it was clearly you who ran out, he mentally facepalms.

The older chuckles, "I mean it’s just that I woke up to an empty room and I’m pretty sure I heard someone run out the door."

Haechan pouts. Clearly mark knew it was him. So why was his hyung teasing him like this? Usually he’s the one who teases others, it’s basically in his job description as the resident maknae. Hyuck sighs, "Yes hyung... It was me who ran out the room" he admits shyly

Ah this was too fun, Mark thinks. He’s never been the one to annoy the younger. Is this how Hyuck feels 24/7 when he’s being a brat to the members? Wow he’s got to try this more.

"Why did you run out? Is it because of a certain cute hyung?" He says while pointing to himself.

Haechan pouts even more, "hyyyyuuungggg" he whines

Mark laughs while standing up. He goes and ruffles the boys hair before walking out the room to find his shoes. Hyuck sits there, red faced and pouty. When did Mark become like this? He groans and gets up to get his bag before heading to the kitchen.

Taeyong sits in the kitchen drinking his coffee, he was gonna need it for the long practice that awaited them. He woke up earlier than usual, 6am, and was having an off morning. He couldn’t quite get his thoughts in order since last night. After they were finished with dinner he stayed to clean up and couldn’t stop going over how he would approach Haechan about the whole situation. Even when he was getting ready for bed he couldn’t stop thinking about it, should he ask the boy directly or try to ease into it?

He groans again before taking another sip of his coffee. His head hurt and he honestly just wanted to go back to sleep. Right when he starts to close his eyes a red faced Hyuck walks in, "Morning hyung" he greets while grabbing a granola bar. Taeyongs eyes snap back open, he looks up at the younger in surprise before returning the greeting.

Haechan sits beside his hyung in order to munch on his granola bar. Haechan couldn’t help but to sneak glances at the sleepy leader, even when he had just woken up the man was extremely handsome. Haechan glances up for a little too long and makes eye contact with Taeyong. He quickly looks down and takes another bite of his breakfast.

"So Haechan-ah do you feel better? Does your stomach still hurt?"

Haechan is caught off guard by the question and quickly chews the remaining food in his mouth before answering, "ah yes.... yes Im feeling much better. Hyungs did a good job taking care of me"

Taeyong was more than happy with the reply, now he knew for sure that the boy would be at practice. Or should he ask him now? Taeyongs mind races, he should just get it over with and talk to the maknae while no one was around.

"Hyuckie?"

"Yes?" The boy answers with panic. Why did his hyung call him that name. He mentally groans.

"I’ve been meaning to talk to you" he sighs "You’ve been acting very different lately and I just...."

Taeyong is cut off by Yuta and Jungwoo walking into the kitchen screaming ‘good morning’ at the top of their lungs. Taeyong let’s out a deep sigh before uttering a small good morning back. He wasn’t too pleased about being interrupted. Now he would have to wait until later to address the issue. He sighs again before taking another sip of his coffee.

Haechan greets his other two hyungs and then looks over to Taeyong, expecting him to continue, but he never does. Instead he takes a sip of his coffee and stares off into space, like he had forgot he was just talking. Haechan taps the leaders arm, "Hyung?"

Taeyong blinks twice before looking to the small boy.

"Weren’t you saying something?"

"Yeah but I wanted to talk in private" he says while gesturing towards the two making their breakfast at the counter "We can talk later"

The maknae stares at him confused, chewing the last of his granola bar. What was Taeyong going to say? What does he mean by ‘acting different’? Haechans eyes widen. Could his hyung know about him, Johnny, and Jaehyun??? He could feel the panic rising. He quickly gets up and accidentally knocks his chair to the ground. The three hyungs stop what they’re doing and look at him with shock. Hyuck looks around embarrassed before quickly picking up the chair and dashing to the front door to put on his shoes. His head was racing with all types of thoughts. What if his hyung really did know? Would if he thinks he’s weird? What if he hated him? Haechan groans. He couldn’t have Taeyong hating him.

He ties both his laces and stands up with his bag on his shoulder. Haechan really wanted to run back in the kitchen and demand his hyung tell him what he was going to say but his legs just wouldn’t move. Part of him wanted to know but the other part of him was terrified. Haechan lightly taps his cheek "Calm down. You’re overreacting. He probably doesn’t know..." He whispers to himself.

He takes a few deep breathes as he waits by the door for the rest of the group.

~x~

The ride there was nothing special, well besides the fact that Hyuck decided to sit in between Jungwoo and Taeil rather than his caregivers. Also the thought of Taeyong knowing about little space daunting on the poor maknae.

While the boys practiced Haechan tried his best to focus and perfect the chorus part of the choreography. He would be in the center so he needed to get this right. But each time he would try his mind would wonder right back to Taeyong. He groans in frustration. It had already been two hours and he just couldn’t concentrate. All of this stress was making it harder and harder for him to try and control himself from slipping. He could feel his mind losing against the urge to slip. It was annoying honestly. He thought this would be easy. Why was it so hard? Maybe because he was stressed? Johnny did say to him that age regression is a big stress reliever. Haechan stops and thinks, if he just calms his brain and stops being stressed then he’ll not want to slip.... right? Honestly he didn’t know but it’s worth a try.

He goes to the corner of the studio and sits criss cross on the floor, closing his eyes and taking deep breathes. Everyone else in the room was dancing and practicing their own parts so no one noticed him disappear into the corner. Haechan tried to think of anything that wasn’t his hyung like unicorns and sunshine. Ah that was pretty calming. He could feel himself already feeling better. Well until he starts to think of warm sunny days which then leads him to think about his bear Sunny. Oh how he missed the brown teddy bear. He wonders if Sunny missed him too.

Oh no.

Haechan had slipped.

He pouts. Thinking more about Sunny. If Sunny were here then he’d feel much better. In that moment Taeyong walks over to him. Their instructor had given them a long 40 minute break to ´relax their muscles’ as he calls it.

The maknae doesn’t even realize Taeyong sit next to him. His eyes are still closed and he was deep in thought about his bear. The leader taps the boy, "Hyuckie?" He questions with an eyebrow raise.

Haechan opens his eyes and looks to the leader in surprise, "oh hello hyungie"

"Haechan-ah I think now would be a good time to talk. We can go to my studio" he says while taking the maknaes hand and leading him out.

Jaehyun notices the leader taking Hyuck away and looks at them confused. Where were they going? He decides to inform Johnny before going back to sitting on the couch to relax. They’re probably fine, he thinks.

Haechan is led down the hall into the leaders spacious studio. Big Hyuck had actually only been in here a few times but not often. It was pretty cool, since he’s the leader they gave him his own private studio to work on songs. Just one of the many things he admired his Hyung for.

Hyuck was confused as to why he was being dragged. What did his hyungie want? Little Hyuck had no idea about this mornings interrupted chat.

Taeyong closes the door and let’s go of Haechans hand, ushering the maknae to sit in one of the big colorful bean bags in the corner. He then plops himself on the chair adjacent. "So I bet you’re wondering what I was going to say this morning?"

Haechan tilts his head, confused. "Huh?" He ask

"This morning... in the kitchen..."

Haechan shakes his head, his mind had no recollection of this. Taeyong sighs, how could the boy have already forgotten? They had just spoke this morning? "Well I’ll restart then... I was saying that I’ve noticed that you’ve been acting differently lately. You act more childish. Not that it’s a problem but I just wanted to know why? And I wanted to know why are you, Johnny, and Jaehyun always running around acting suspicious?" He says in one long breath.

Hyuck looks at the leader with big eyes. That was a lot of words and he had just barely understood half of them. Hyuck put on his thinking face, he was sure his hyungie expected a big answer since he gave him such a big question. After awhile his head hurt from thinking too much and he gives up, "Hyungie I not understand, maybe ask daddy? He very smart."

Taeyong looks at the boy in shock. What did he just say? Daddy? As in... his father? He was confused. Also why was he speaking like a child? Taeyong didn’t know how to respond to that and watches as the boy gets up from the bean bag and roams around the studio in amazement. Hyuck thought the room was really cool and walks over to the microphone in the other corner of room. "Testing! Testing! Helloooo?" He says into the mic before giggling.

Taeyong let’s out a small chuckle. He didn’t know what was going on but Hyuck sure was adorable. Maybe this is why the trio has been acting suspicious?

Hyuck runs back over to his hyung, "Hyungie can we bring daddy and appa here? I miss them" he begs. Taeyong furrows his brows, "But your appa isn’t here?"

Surely the boy knows that his family doesn’t live anywhere near here, the leader thinks. Haechan groans, "Yes he is~ He in dance room."

What? Was he perhaps talking about Johnny or Jaehyun? That made no sense what so ever. "Do you mean Johnny and Jaehyun?"

Hyuck nods his head and groans again. What was wrong with his hyungie? Duh of course he was talking about those two. "Jae Jae appa" he clarifies.

Taeyong is once again speechless. This was just too much for him right now. He clearly needed to talk to Jaehyun rather than the maknae. He stands up and looks at the small boy, "Okay Im going to go get him. Can you stay here for me?" He says while gesturing to the bean bag. Hyuck nods while plopping himself on the chair, "okay!"

Taeyong dashes down the hall and into the dance room. He scans the room for Jaehyun. He finally spots him laying on the coach with his phone in hand. He takes a step towards him but is stopped by a hand pulling him back. Taeyong turns around to look at who had grabbed him, it was Mark.

"Hyung. I need to talk to you. It’s important." He says with pleading eyes. Taeyong looks at Mark and turns to look at Jaehyun. He then remembers he still had Hyuck waiting in the other room and should probably hurry. He turns back around, "Can it wait a minute? I just need to sort somethings out first."

Mark frowns but nods and let’s go of the leaders arm. Taeyong gives him a small smile before rushing over to the couch. "Uh Jaehyun?" He says kinda awkwardly. The male looks up from his phone and stares back at the leader. "Yeah?"

Taeyong looks to the ground for a second before looking back up, "um can you come with me for a second? It’s kinda urgent...."

Jaehyun raises his brow but quickly gets up and follows the leader out the room and down the hall. Taeyong opens the door to the studio and sees Haechan still in the same spot that he had left him, bouncing up and down on the chair. Hyuck looks up and makes eye contact with Jaehyun, "Appa!" He cheers while running over to him.

Hyuck hugs him tightly before looking up at him, "I missed you"

Jaehyun is in a state of shock. He doesn’t even know what to say. If anything he was thinking of ways to escape with the boy before Taeyong could see anymore. But that plan is ruined once Taeyong closes the door and walks directly in front of the two. "So Jaehyun-ah....can you please explain to me everything right now? Are you haechans appa? How is Johnny his dad? I want to know everything..... please"

The trio sit, Taeyong on the bean bag, Jaehyun on the regular chair, and Hyuck on jaehyuns lap. Hyuck cuddled into his appa feeling really comfy. The leader looks at the two expectingly. He was ready to listen. Jaehyun clears his throat, "So to answer your question... yes... I am his Appa and Johnny is his daddy. We are his caregivers" he says all too awkwardly. Taeyong stares at him, intrigued.

"Caregivers?" He repeats softly.

"Yes, caregivers. Meaning we take care of Hyuck when he is in.... little space."

Hyuck sits there and becomes bored. What were they talking about? He didn’t know and definitely wasn’t interested. "Appa Im bored~" he whines "Can I go play?"

Taeyong watches as Jaehyun gives Haechan his phone with some type of colorful game on it and ushers him onto the fluffy carpet in the middle of the room. Hyuck lays on the soft rug, completely immersed with the moving shapes and happy noises coming from the phone. "So little space? Can you explain more?" Taeyong inquires

Jaehyun does his best to explain the ins and outs of little space even though he himself wasn’t an expert. Honestly it would be better if Johnny were here to explain. After he finished his rambling he looks to the leader to make sure it all made sense. Taeyong takes a second to collect his thoughts. He was still a little confused, "So Haechan isn’t really Haechan right now? He’s baby Haechan?"

Hyuck looks up from the game upon hearing this and crosses his arms, "I’m not baby. I a big boy! Four years is very very old" he states. Jaehyun laughs at the boy, "Yes yes you’re a big boy"

Haechan huffs and goes back to playing his game. Jaehyun turns back to the leader, "Basically Yeah he is now ‘baby’ Haechan. His mental state is that of a four year old right now." Taeyong nods, he thinks he kinda understands now. "Does anybody else know?" He questions

"Uh no not really. Haechan wanted to keep it a secret until he was ready"

Taeyong mentally facepalms. His poor maknae wanted to keep this all a secret and here he was finding out and asking so many questions. "Oh. I feel horrible for asking. I was just so curious as to why you were all acting so suspicious but now that I know I wasn’t really supposed to find out...."

Jaehyun cuts him off, "Hyung it’s okay. There’s nothing we can do about it now. You know and now you can stop worrying."

He was right. There was no use in worrying anymore. Taeyong did finally have the answer to his question. But why did he still feel uneasy? If Haechan was a child didnt that mean they would have to baby proof the dorm? And does he have any toys? Taeyong was already planning everything out now. He had to make sure Hyuck had everything he needed. Jaehyun could see that the other was thinking really hard so he taps his arm, "hyung?"

Taeyong is brought out of his thoughts and looks at him, "oh sorry I was just thinking about everything Haechan needs. Did you two already buy him toys? Does he need... I don’t know... bottles? Is that what four year olds use??"

Jaehyun chuckles lightly at the leader. He had just told him about little space and he was already trying to do everything he could to help, typical Taeyong. This made him extremely glad that the other wasn’t weirded out by it and was actually willing to be apart of the trios new life. "No, we haven’t bought anything yet. Yesterday was actually the first day he ever went into little space."

The leader let’s out a gasp. Yesterday? The first time... was yesterday? Ah now he felt worse, poor haechanie barely had anytime to keep his secret. Ah oh well. Taeyong now swore to himself that he would do everything he could for the maknae. "Okay well I will do more research and try to get everything little Haechanie would need" he states with a proud smile. Jaehyun grins, "Ah thank you hyung! I can’t wait to tell Johnny!"

They laugh a little before Taeyong checks his watch, there was 20 minutes left of their break. "Uh Jaehyun-ah? There’s only 20 minutes left until we start practice again. What about Hyuck?"
Jaehyun looks back at Hyuck and sighs. They couldn’t have a little Hyuck trying to finish dance practice. That just wouldn’t work. "Hyuckie?" He calls.

Haechan looks up from the phone and stares up at his appa. "Do you think you could be a big boy for us so you can finish practice?"

The maknae sits up from his comfy laying position and pouts. He shakes his head, "No, I don’t wanna"

"Aw baby please? You need to finish practice."

Haechan was not willing to listen. He absolutely did not want to have to go back to practice and definitely didn’t want to be big, not at all. He crosses his arms, "nuh uh" he whines. Jaehyun sighs at the littles defiance.

"Haechan-ah" he warns

The little did not budge, "Appa no no!" He whines again but louder. Jaehyun is defeated, this could be checked off as the littles first tantrum and Jaehyun did not like it. He turns back to Taeyong, "Maybe I could tell our instructor and manager that Haechan is still feeling ill and that I should take him back to the dorm?"

It was worth a try and it was the only option they had right now considering the little was being uncooperative. Taeyong nods and watches the other get up. "Can you stay here with him please? I’ll be back soon" he says and leaves, never waiting for an actually answer. Taeyong is left sitting in his bean bag chair staring at the pouty little. He didn’t quite know how to approach the boy. Should he talk to him like he was just Haechan or should he speak to him how you would a toddler? Taeyong furrows his brows before deciding on the second option. He gets up from his comfy seat and joins the maknae on the floor. Haechan looks down at his lap, still pouty.

"You know hyuckie it’s not okay to yell like that" he reprimands "That’s bad. And you’re not a bad boy are you?"

Haechan quickly looks up and shakes his head. He wasn’t a bad boy, he was good. Oh no, did his hyungie think he was bad? The thought of Taeyong thinking he was a troublemaker was too much. Haechans bottom lip begins to quiver as a tear slides down his cheek. Taeyong panics upon seeing the crying little.

" ‘m sorry hyungie!" He eclaims. Taeyong quickly ushers the boy into his arms, having him sit on his lap. The little holds onto him, crying softly into his shirt.

"It’s okay hyuckie. It’s okay. No need to cry." He says softly while stroking his hair.

"B-but Hyungie think I bad" he cries

"No no baby I don’t think your bad. I think your a good boy"

Haechan looks up from taeyongs chest and into his eyes, "Rweally?" He ask while sniffling. The leader smiles at the boy while going to wipe his tears, "Yes really." Haechan sniffles again, this time wiping away his own tears with the back of his hand.

"But it’s not okay to have a tantrum, okay?" Taeyong reminds

"Okay" he answers while cuddling into the olders chest.

They sit like that for awhile, still waiting for Jaehyun to come back. Taeyong was gently combing through the boys hair and humming one of their songs. Haechan was extremely comfy and could even fall asleep but something was keeping him up. He had been thinking about it ever since they came into the room, lifting himself from Taeyongs chest, he stares at him with a interesting look. "Hyungie?" He inquires. Taeyong hums in response. "Do you know that you very pwetty? And nice? Like a Mommy?"

The leader is taken aback by the question. I mean of course he’s used to people calling him handsome, pretty, and any other word to describe his visuals but never has one of his members said he was ‘pretty like a mom’. If he was being quite honest he didn’t mind the compliment. It made him feel happy, but he didn’t know why. Maybe it was the way Hyuck had said it with his cute voice and his cute puppy eyes or maybe it was the title ‘mommy’.

He liked it.

"Ah thank you hyuckie" he says with a big smile

The little smiles while cuddling back into his neck, closing his eyes. The door creaks open and in walks Jaehyun with an unreadable expression. The leader looks up at him, half expecting him to say that their manager told him ‘no’ they can’t take Haechanie home. He wouldn't be surprised honestly, their managers could be strict sometimes. Jaehyun walks over to the pair and quickly let’s out everything their instructor and manger have told him, "They both agreed that he could go home early! And that one of us could go with him. I already talked to Johnny and he said he’ll go back with him since I still need to practice my center part"

"That’s great jaehyun-ah" the leader says before looking down at the maknae "Did you hear that hyuckie? You’re going to go home early today!"

Hyuck sits up from Taeyongs chest and smiles, "yay no more yuckie pwactice!" he practically yells. They laugh at the boys excitement. They all get up and head out the door towards the front of the building where they could see Johnny and one of their mangers waiting for them.

"Daddy!" Haechan yells while crashing into Johnny, almost knocking the tall man down. Johnny stumbles trying to regain his balance and wraps his arms around the boy. Their manager looks at them with an eyebrow raise, causing Johnny to panic.

"It just an inside joke we have" he stutters while awkwardly laughing. The manager is anything but convinced but considering he’s been with this group for years, this is probably the least weirdest thing he’s seen so far. He turns around with a simple head shake and motions for them to go outside to the van.

They all say their goodbyes, with lots of hugs and kisses. Taeyong learned that little Hyuck clearly liked giving lots of hugs as the boy wouldn’t let him go.

"Come on hyuckie we have to go" Johnny says, hand holding the door open. The little sighs and let’s go, running over to give his Appa one last hug before walking towards the door. "Bye bye Appa!~ Bye bye Yongie hyungie!~" he sings while following Johnny out into the van.

The duo watch as the van drives off before turning around and heading back to the dance room. "Hyuck is so adorable!" Taeyong confesses once they reach the door. Jaehyun doesnt answer, only smiles. He already knew his baby was a cutie. The two walk inside right in time for their instructors five minute warning alarm to ring

Mark looked at the door just as the alarm rang. Five minutes. That’s all he had to tell Taeyong about everything he knew. The rapper runs over to the door, catching the duo by surprise. "Hyung, I really need to talk to you now" he pleads. Taeyong had almost forgotten about Mark needing to talk to him. He looks at him and could clearly see the desperation in the poor boys eyes and knew that the issue most be serious.

Taeyong quickly dragged Mark to the corner and looked at him expectantly. Mark takes a deep breath before quietly blurting out everything. He talked about listening behind the door, little space, (even though he wasn’t completely sure what it was), and Hyuck not actually being sick that day.

Taeyong is shocked.

Mark knew about this the whole time? Why would he tell Taeyong about it now? The leader now couldn’t help but to be confused as to how many people really knew about little Hyuck. He sighs, hands shoved in the pockets of his workout joggers "Mark? Why are you telling me this?"

Mark looks at him with an confused expression. Of all the responses he hadn’t thought that would be the one. He thought it was quite obvious why he told the other. He also thought that the leader would be glad to finally know what’s going on.

"I-I thought you would want to know.... why they’ve been acting this way"

The leader moved closer to the young rapper and whispers "I already know"

Mark steps back in shock, "What?!" He almost yells, gaining a stern look from their instructor.

"Yes I found out recently. I sadly didn’t know Hyuck wanted to keep it a secret" Taeyong drags out, looking down at his feet. Mark could feel the leaders regret and now Mark felt guilty too. He knew Hyuck wanted to keep it a secret yet he still went out of his way to tell the leader. He groans, realization only hitting him now.

"Now I feel guilty too. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you? I thought you would want to know because of how stressed you were last night but now I just-" Mark rambles but is quickly interrupted by Taeyong.

"Listen Mark. It’s okay. We both know now and all we can do is be as supportive as possible for Hyuck, Johnny, and Jaehyun, okay?"

"Okay" Mark agrees. They both go to walk away but Taeyong grabs the rappers arm again, pulling him to face him, "Oh and make sure not to tell anyone else. Okay? We already know but let’s let hyuckie tell the rest of the group when he’s comfortable"

Mark nods. He promises himself he would not tell anyone else. Taeyong let’s go of his arm and they walk back to their starting positions just as the bell rings, signaling break is over. Their instructor is quick to run to the front and start teaching again.

Mark tries his best to practice but he still felt kinda guilty about spilling hyucks secret. He was now trying to think of all the ways he could be there for him. First he’d do his research. He didn’t quite understand the whole little space thing and second he had to let the trio know he actually knew the secret. How would they react? Would they be upset? He groans. He had to tell them someday.

He just hoped that Haechan wouldn’t be too upset that he eavesdropped. He doesn’t know what he’d do if Hyuck was mad at him.

He shakes his head to clear his thoughts and focuses back on practice.

Sigh. Only five more hours to go.

Chapter 10: Mark apologizes

Chapter Text

It has been a week since Taeyong found out about little Hyuck and so far he’s done all possible research, knowing everything he needed to know. He desperately wanted to see little Hyuck again but the boy hadn’t slipped since that day, well at least not around him.

Haechan had actually slipped twice in that week but each time Taeyong was somewhere else. But last night he made sure to inform the two caregivers that he wanted to be there the next time it happened. Haechan was kinda shy when hearing this but agreed nonetheless.

The caregivers had actually told big Haechan the day after Taeyong found out that the leader knew his secret. Haechan was embarrassed and extremely disappointed, he managed to slip in front of the leader and could barely control his little side for two hours. But he quickly got over this after seeing how much the leader was happy to help.

Now Mark, he still hadn’t told the trio he knew their secret and just couldn’t work up the courage to do so. Each time he would go up to anyone of them he would be too scared and walk away. It was extremely frustrating. He wished he could just tell them upfront and get pass the anger they might have for him eavesdropping... but he couldn’t. Luckily though he had studied up on little space. Now that he knew exactly what it was he felt like he needed to tell the trio as soon as possible. He desperately wanted to see a cute baby Haechan. I mean, who wouldn’t??

He sighs as he tries to build up the courage one more time to tell them. Slowly walking up to Johnny and Jaehyuns door his hand hovers in the air a little, clenched into a fist. "Do it, Mark" he whispers before softly knocking on the door, hoping it was too quiet for anyone to actually hear. To his dismay his knock was perceived and the door opens with a creak, revealing a groggy Johnny.

"Mark?" He says half asleep "What are you doing? It’s 5am"

Mark tries to look anywhere but his hyung, "Yeah I know but I needed to tell you guys something...."

The tall male gestures for him to come in as he turns on the light. Jaehyun had already been awaked by Johnny rustling to get out of bed and sits up, rubbing the sleep form his eyes. He yawns before looking down at the nervous boy standing in the middle of their room.

"What did you want to tell us?" Johnny inquires, eyes threatening to close at any second.

Mark opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. Maybe he should just walk away... again. He mentally slaps himself, no, he couldn’t just walk away. He needs to tell them.

"I....I know about Hyuck...."

Johnnys once sleepy eyes now spring open. What did he just say? He couldn’t possibly know about Hyuck being a little. Could he?

"What do you mean?"

Mark clears his throat, "I mean... I know about little space and about the three of you guys." He clarifies and once he sees Jaehyun and Johnny’s fearful faces he quickly adds, "I know I wasn’t supposed to find out and I’m sorry!"

The two look at each other before looking back at the boy. They were honestly shocked. This was now the second person to find out about Hyuck. Johnny groans, frustrated knowing his baby never really wanted anyone to know his secret. Sure he was fine with Taeyong knowing, considering how kind and gentle the leader was, but now Mark knows too. For Jaehyun and Johnny it was obvious that Mark was the last person Haechan would tell. That was one of his best friends and he wanted to make sure everything was perfect when he told him.

How would they inform Haechan about this? Another groan is let out by the tall male. "Mark. How did you find out? Haechan didn’t tell you? Did he?"

Mark curses to himself. He knew they would want to know the details. "Well I kind of eavesdropped on you guys like last week..."

Jaehyuns eyes widen, "Eavesdropped??!!"

"Mark. Seriously?" Johnny ask disappointed

The boy panics. He knew what he did was wrong but now admitting it to his hyung he felt even worse. "I’m sorry! So very sorry! I was just so curious as to why you two were treating Hyuck so differently, basically babying him, so I... eavesdropped" He looks down at his hands "But I did lots of research on little space and I think I know enough. I really wanna help and be there for haechanie" he says bashfully.

Mark looks back up at his two hyungs, "Are you upset with me?"

Honestly they kind of where upset but they knew Mark meant no harm and couldn’t stay mad at the boy.

"No Mark we're not upset. A little disappointed yes but not upset. I can understand your curiosity and now you know about Hyuck." Jaehyun says softly "We don’t know how he’ll react to you being aware of little space but we’ll make sure to tell him. Okay?"

Mark nods. He was relieved that they weren’t mad at him. He says a small okay and many apologies for waking them up before turning around out the door. Instead of going back to his room he heads for the kitchen for some tea. He could really use it right now. The amount of stress he felt in those 30minutes drained him.

The two caregivers look at each other. Each thinking the same thing. How would they tell Hyuck?

Jaehyun climbs down from the bed. It was 5:30am and he was already awake. He couldn’t just go back to sleep after everything that just happened. He paces back and fourth, slightly panicked. "I think we should tell Hyuck...like now"

Johnny nods with a small smile. He couldn’t help but to notice how cute the other was when he was stressed. He shakes his head... that sounded weird.

He tries to forget the thought as they both walk out the room and head to the maknaes, right down the hall. Once inside they notice no sign of mark, strange considering they just spoke to him. Maybe he went to the bathroom? They didn’t know.

They quietly walk over to the maknaes bed before sitting down on either side of the sleeping boy. Johnny goes and gently tries to nudge him awake.

"Haechan-ah" he whispers. He’s met with a groan. The maknae wriggles in his sleep before covering himself even more with the blanket. Johnny repeats himself, "Haechan" he says louder this time and adding an extra nudge. The boy whines. Why did everyone and everything want to wake him up when he was dreaming of something good? He was dreaming about going to the beach with the members, laughing and having fun, before he felt himself slowly slipping from the beach and back into reality; hearing his name being called out. His eyes slowly flutter open and he glares at the intrusive voice.

"Hyungggs~" he whines while slowly sitting up and looking at the two. "Why are you waking me up?? Its-" he searches for his phone and checks the time "5:40am!?" He says in shock before groaning and flopping back on the bed.

"Aw stop being so whiny" Jaehyun teases while pinching the boys cheek. Haechan glares at him and swats his hand away. He just wanted to go back to sleep.

Jaehyun shakes his head at the boy before looking at Johnny. He didn’t want to be the one to start and tries to communicate that through his eyes. Johnny nods, knowing exactly what he was trying to say. He looks at the small boy who was wrapped tightly in his blanket, "Listen Hyuck, we have some news..."

The boy quickly whips his head to his hyung. News? They had news? The last time they said that it was about Taeyong hyung. Hyuck could not take anymore surprises like that one, especially not now at 5am.

"Is it bad?"

"Well..." Johnny trails off with a pitiful look.

Haechan pouts. He didn’t wanna hear bad news but he knew it must be important if his hyungs came to wake him up this early to tell him. He signals for Johnny to continue and braces himself for what he’s about to hear.

"You know how Taeyong knows about little you?" He ask. Haechan nods. "Well... Mark knows too"

The boy stares at him, "Mark hyung?!" He nearly yells before burying himself underneath the covers "I can’t do this. This.... no... you’re lying. I don’t believe you hyung"

Johnny looks at the younger sympathetically. Jaehyun shakes hyuck, trying to get him to come from under the covers, "Come on hyuck, we wouldn’t lie to you"

Haechan whines before uncovering himself and sitting up once more. He was so close to sobbing. He feels so frustrated at the thought of Mark knowing and the only way he could express that was by crying. Only one tear falls though before he’s engulfed in a hug by both his hyungs. Hyuck sniffles, "He probably thinks I’m weird.... what if he never talks to me again???"

Johnny is quick to soothe him, rubbing the boys back, "No baby no, Mark said that he has done lots of research, just like Taeyong has, and really wants to help out. He said he wants to do everything he can to be there for you"

The maknae wiggles free from the hug and looks his hyung in the eyes,searching, hoping everything he said was true"He really said that?"

Jaehyun nods, hoping the boy truly believed him. Hyuck could tell his hyungs were telling the truth and for some reason that made him feel worse. He wanted to be the one to tell Mark, he wanted to make sure it was just right before letting his best friend know about this new found side of him.

Hyuck couldn’t do anything but sigh in frustration.
He felt annoyed and didn’t know how to handle it, he hates feeling this way. He sits there with his tiny hands balled in a fist, pout on his lips, and staring off into space. Jaehyun pats the boys shoulder, "Hyuck? Are you alright?"

Haechan blinks out of his daze and sighs looking at the older male, "Appa, I sad"

The two caregivers share a look. It was becoming pretty normal now for Haechan to slip when he was stressed or upset.

"You feel sad?" Johnny repeats

The little nods.

"Okay than baby how about we go get you something to eat? Maybe then you’ll feel a little better?" He proposes.

Hyuck agrees and puts out his arms, he wasn’t in the mood to walk. Johnny is quick to lift the little while jaehyun makes sure to grab Sunny from the bed and hand it to the boy. Haechan takes the bear and wraps him tightly in his arms while nuzzling into his daddy’s shoulder.

They make the short journey to the kitchen, hoping no one would be there this early in the morning. The members usually wake up around 8am so they had some time.

Jaehyun is quick to flip the light on, illuminating the once dark kitchen but stops in his tracks when he makes eye contact with someone sitting at the table.

It was Mark.

They all stand at the entry way shocked seeing Mark sitting at the table drinking tea. He stares up at them with the same surprised expression. Why was he here? And why was he drinking tea in the dark? Johnny is already in the process of turning around when Haechan says something, "Mark hyungie!" He yells. Mark looks at the younger, surprised, almost spilling his drink on himself. Hyuck wiggles free from Johnny’s hold and stomps over to the rapper.

He folds his arms with a big ‘humph’, Sunny sadly getting squeezed in the process, "I very upset with you hyungie. Very upset"

Mark is slightly confused with the situation. Did his hyungs already inform hyuck that he knew? That was quick. Also, was hyuck in little space right now? It seemed like it. The way he was talking and his cute angry face. Mark forgets about the confusion and instead focuses on how adorable the boy in front of him looked. His little pout and the way he was trying to look angry but instead looks like a cute puppy.

"Why are you upset?" he decides to question; maybe the boy was talking about something else. Even though he doubted it.

Haechan looks at him with a raised brow before looking confused himself. He uncrosses his arms and sits down in the chair next to him, "hmm I forget" he says defeated. Why was he sad again? And why was he upset with Mark? He can’t remember.

Mark let’s out a soft chuckle,"You forgot?"

Hyuck crosses his arms again,"Not funny"

But this only causes Mark to laugh even more. Does the maknae not realize how adorable he is? Clearly not. Haechan turns to his two caregivers,
"Daddy! Appa! Hyungie being mean"

Jaehyun is quickly at the maknaes side, rubbing his back and telling him it’s okay while Johnny goes to Mark, "Mark be nice" he teases while trying to hide his smile as to not upset the little anymore.

Mark looks at Johnny and motions for him to bend down in order to whisper something to him, "Is he in little space right now?"

Johnny backs away from his crouched position and nods. The small rapper tries to hide his excitement. So far he thinks little hyuck is just a cuter, more pouty version of big hyuck.

Jaehyun realizes something, "What about Taeyong?" He ask Johnny "He did say he wanted to be here the next time hyuck slipped"

Johnny makes a face, "But it’s early in the morning?"

"Yeah, I know. But you heard him last night. He made it very clear that he really~ wanted to see little hyuck"

"I wan’ see yongie hyungie~" hyuck sings

Johnny finally agrees and decides he’ll be the one to go wake the leader. While Johnny is gone Jaehyun takes this time to start the littles breakfast. He’d make something special today, French toast.

Now it was only two left at the table. Hyuck takes a quick look at Mark before turning away.

"Haechanie?" The older questions

"Nuh uh I not talk to you"

"Why not?"

"You meanie" hyuck states, once again feeling upset with the rapper. Mark scoots closer to the boy and taps his shoulder in order to gain his attention, "Listen haechanie I’m very very very very very sorry"

Haechan turns to look at his hyung. He was shocked by the olders words, that was a lot of ‘very’s’ he had said, he must be serious. To hyuck this felt like a seriously genuine apology. "Okay hyungie I forgive you~" he sings

Mark chuckles and scoots back to where he was, "So haechanie, how old are you now?" He questions. The boy thinks for a little before proudly holding up three fingers. So far haechan’s little age varies between three and four; he hasn’t slipped younger than that and he’s not sure he wants to... yet.

"Three years old??" Mark says dramatically "wow that’s so young"

Haechan is quick to shake his head. He wasn’t young, "no no I a big boy!" He corrects

Jaehyun looks back from the stove and smiles while playfully rolling his eyes. His baby was constantly reminding people that he was a ‘big boy’. Mark retracts his statement, "okay okay! yes you are a big boy. Just like your hyung" he says while showing off his muscles and posing in a really goofy ‘strong man’ stance. This earns a big laugh from the little across him. "You look funny!"

Haechan was in the midst of laughing when Johnny returned with a sleepy Taeyong trailing behind him. "Morning" he says softly, yawning right after.

"Morning yongie hyungie" the little exclaims with a big smile. He was very excited to see Taeyong, he made him feel cozy.

The sleep that fogged Taeyongs mind was immediately gone once he heard Haechanie greet him. He rushes over to the maknae and lifts him up into a big hug, earning lots of giggles from the little being squished in his arms.

"Hyungie happy?" Hyuck questions while looking up at the older.

Taeyong nods, "Very happy!"

Haechan giggles again, his hyungs were so funny today.

"Hyuckie your breakfast is ready" jaehyun announces as he places a plate of French toast on the table and motions for the two to sit down. Taeyong drags the boy back to his seat and sits across from him. He watches as jaehyun sits next to hyuck and cuts his food into little bite size pieces before feeding him. Half way through his food Hyuck became thirsty, begging his caregivers for some juice. At the mention of juice something clicks for Taeyong and he is reminded of the stuff he had ordered; he runs out the kitchen and heads to his room.

The four remaining people look at each other in confusion by the sudden action and look even more confused when the frantic leader returns with a medium brown box. Taeyong opens the box and reveals its many contents. It had everything they would need for little Haechanie; toys, coloring utensils, new pajamas, and more. He digs through the stuff until he found what he was looking for, "Here you go" he says while handing Jaehyun the yellow sippy cup he had bought.

Jaehyun is surprised as he takes the cup, "When did you get these?" He questions before washing it and then filing it with apple juice.

"The day after I found out I went straight to the internet and looked up everything haechanie would need and basically ordered a lot of stuff... I may have went overboard" he says the last part sheepishly as he looks at the many colored items.

Johnny smiles, "Overboard? No, this is perfect! Thank you so much! You’re the best!"

Taeyong smiles at that praise. He was happy they liked the stuff considering he had spent hours scrolling through various sites just to find everything. He clearly remembers getting frustrated with the amount of toys he had to choose through. Why were there so many damn options? He didn’t know and he hopes he won’t have to search again for a long time.

Jaehyun hands the boy the cup and watches as he inspects the object. Haechan looks at the sippy cup before taking a test sip; once he feels the juice on his tongue he concludes that this was now the coolest cup he had every seen and happily drinks his juice.

Jaehyun finishes feeding Hyuck and cleans up, wiping his face of all the syrup and putting the dishes in the sink to wash.

Taeyong digs through the box a little more before picking up something special, it was a yellow pacifier with sunflowers on it. He holds it up in front of the boy, "Hyuckie look what I got~".

Haechan curiously stares at the object, "It have sunflowers! Pretty!" He cheers while clapping his hands.

Everyone laughs at the maknaes excitement and Taeyong holds the pacifier up to Hyucks face "Open up~" he sings

Hyuck opens his mouth and the pacifier is placed inside. He immediately begins to use the object and claps once again, "Appa look" he kindly demands, causing Jaehyun to turn from his position at the sink. He fondly looks at his baby and smiles,"You’re so cute! The sunflowers are perfect for our fullsun" he coos, earning a giggle from Hyuck.

Mark, who had been smiling from ear to ear this whole time, couldn’t help the fond expression he had each time he looked at Haechan. He had just met the little and somehow he already had this grasp on him; Hyuck was just so cute and it was almost too much to handle. He really wishes that Hyuck would tell the rest of the group, he knows they’d be whipped for the boy just as much as he was.

Amongst all the laughs nobody heard the creek of the floorboards as a sleepy male walks into the kitchen. He rubs his eyes to clear up his vision before focusing on what everyone was smiling about, Haechan. What was that in his mouth? A pacifier?

He stares at the giggly boy before letting out his own chuckle, forcing the once joyous crowd into silence. They quickly turn their heads to the extra noise. How long has he been standing there? They all question, shifting eye contact between each other because no one knew what to do.

"Morning" he says awkwardly, feeling as if he had ruined the moment. No one greeted the man back, too stunned to speak. Well except one person, "Morning Yuta hyungie!"

Ah shit...here we go again.

Chapter 11: Yu yu hyungie

Notes:

Hello! Sorry for the late upload! I had been working on this chapter for awhile but didn’t know how to finish it! >_< but I finally got around to it!

Chapter Text

The sleepy male didn’t even know what time it was when he woke up in the pitch black room. He stared out the window at the dark sky, he couldn’t really see much except for the few stars that were still out. He could hear the noise that had woke him up. Was it laughter? Or yelling? Whatever the sounds were it was loud and clearly coming from the kitchen. Probably some of the members, he concludes.

He lets out a yawn while stretching his arms and then groggly rolls out of bed. No point in going back to sleep if you're already awake, he figures while slowly making his way out of the room and down the hall. As he kept waking towards the bright light at the end of the somber hallway the noises became louder and louder. Now he could clearly hear it was laughter. In fact it was mixture of laughs but one stood out to him the most, Haechan’s. As weird as it may sound he knew Haechans laugh very well, that boy was always laughing or making others laugh. Sometimes he would do something absolutely stupid just to hear the boy laugh, "That doesn’t sound weird at all" he sarcastically whispers to himself.

He slowly makes his way to the kitchen entrance and rubbed the remaining sleepiness from his eyes. No one had noticed his presence since they all seemed to be focused on the laughing maknae. He furrows his brows, was that a pacifier in hyuck’s mouth? Why does he have that?

The older male didn’t know if it was strange to think this but he felt that Hyuck looked oddly adorable with the pacifier. Honestly it was cute how giggly hyuck was and how much he reminded him of a child in this moment. A child? Is that the right way to describe the maknae right now? He shakes his head. A baby, is probably a more accurate description.

Looking at everyone else’s smiles towards hyuck and hearing the boys own laughter he couldn’t help but to let out his own boisterous laugh too. But that was a mistake...

The once joyous room becomes stale as everyone
turns towards the male, confusion all over their faces. Did he do something wrong? "Morning" he try’s, hoping the greeting would lighten the mood. He was wrong, completely and utterly wrong. He watched as everyone shared looks of uncertainty, well expect one person who looked at him with a big smile.

"Morning Yuta hyungie!" The maknae exclaims as he gets up from his seat and runs towards Yuta. The boy was too quick and Johnny wasn’t able to grab him in time. He stumbled out of his chair and exasperatedly watched hyuck slip away into the arms of a very confused Yuta.

Yuta is taken by surprise, stumbling back a little from the impact. He quickly puts his arms around the boys small frame and tries to match his energy, "Morning Haechanie!" He exclaims with his one of a kind healing smile. The maknae squeezes his hyung even tighter and looks up at him with his famous quizzical look. Yuta raises his brow, wondering why the younger was staring at him like that. Was something wrong? Haechan tilts his head to the side like a confused puppy, "I call you...Yu Yu hyungie?" He finally ask; his words sounding kind of meshed together due to his pacifier.

Yuta chuckles lightly at the cute question, "Of course Haechanie!"

The positive response causes the maknae to giggle before resting his head on Yuta’s chest and hugging him tightly like before. His hyungie was so warm and he really didn’t want to let go. Why was his hyungie so cuddly? The maknaes thoughts were interrupted by Yuta clearing his throat, "Uh Haechanie?" He calls

The boy looks up with a small smile, "Yes?"

"Why do you have a pacifier in your mouth?"

"Yongie hyungie gave me" he states before giggling again.

Yuta looks up and across the room, directly making eye contact with Taeyong; a slight raise to his brow. He opens his mouth to question the leader but is immediately cut off by Jaehyun, "I think we should leave now" he announces as he stands and grabs the small boy wrapped in his arms. Haechan doesn’t seem to budge as he holds even tighter to Yuta while turning to glare at Jaehyun.

"Nuh uh! I don’t wanna!" He whines

"Lee Donghyuck" Jaehyun warns.

Haechan stops his glaring; his Appa never calls him by his full name, he was in real trouble. But he really didn’t want to have to leave his yu yu hyungie.

"B-but I dont wanna leave yu yu hyungie~" he whines more.

Yuta awkwardly stands there with his arms loosely around the boy. To say he was confused was an understatement, he didn’t know what to do or say. He had so many questions floating around in his brain. Why is hyuck acting like a baby? Why Is Jaehyun acting like a parent? And again.. why does he have a pacifier?!?!

"Hyuck I will not tolerate another tantrum" Jaehyun states

Yuta looks down at the boy, another tantrum? Are tantrums a normal thing for the maknae? He was very confused, "Can someone please tell me what’s going on?!" He says frustrated.

"Let’s just tell him..." Johnny exhales as he facepalms.

"I guess Yuta hyung will be the third person to know" Mark says with a pitiful look.

Jaehyun sighs, "yeah..." he gives up on his fight to grab haechan away. Jaehyun may be stern sometimes but it was clearly no match for Haechan’s stubbornness. It had become quite clear to the two caregivers that Hyuck’s favorite word was "no". The little didn’t like being told what to do and always made sure to whine or pout. He makes a mental note to set a list of rules with rewards and punishments with the little later because he doesn’t know he if he can take anymore defiance from the boy.

"Tell me what?" Yuta questions

Should they really tell Yuta? This is already the third person to know in about a week. Johnny was frustrated at the thought, he didn’t know it would be this hard to keep a secret from his members. He rolls his eyes and sighs, how foolish of him to even think that considering he lives with eight other people who saw each other everyday, there was barely any room for secrecy.

What would big Haechan think of all this? He knows he’d be just as annoyed as when he had found out Taeyong knew. But if he really thought about it; it was basically little Haechan who was exposing his own secret to everyone. The little was just so social and loved all his hyungs, he did not know he was not supposed to talk to his other hyungs in order to keep the secret. But Johnny knew that even if little hyuck was informed of this he probably wouldn’t have listened and talked to them anyways.

He slowly climbs out of his thoughts. All the members were bound to know at some point, he settles. "Take a seat. This is going to take awhile" he says while gesturing to the chair across from him.

Yuta, confused, tries to walk over to the chair with a clingy Hyuck still attached to him. "Haechan-ah I need to sit" he informs. Hyuck looks up at him with a pout but ultimately lets go; allowing Yuta to quickly take a seat in the wooden chair. When he sees his hyungie is seated Hyuck takes no time to plop himself on his lap and cuddle into his chest. The little thinks again, why was his hyungie so cuddly?

Yuta is surprised at the action but only for a second as he wraps his arms around the boy and holds him close. Hyuck sighs with content before slowly closing his eyes. The members had watched the duo and could not help but to gush over how adorable the two were, Johnny was so entranced by their cuteness he had almost forgot about the reason he asked Yuta to sit.

"Please continue hyung" Yuta encourages.

Johnny clears his throat," Alright so..." he drags before looking at Jaehyun for conformation. Jaehyun wasn’t too sure about telling Yuta but he knew if they didn’t tell him now he would never stop questioning them. That’s just the way he is, he never gave up and always sought the truth from his members. He looks at Johnny and gives him a small nod of approval before gesturing for the man to explain.

"So do you know about little space?" He questions, half expecting the male to run at the mention of it. But to his surprise he doesn’t instead Yuta furrows his brows, "Nope. What is that? A tv show or something?"

Mark bites his lip to hold in his laughter. He knew this was a serious conversation and did not want to be the one to ruin it. But Taeyong on the other hand could not stop himself from chuckling a little at the absurd question. The leader stops himself though when he sees Johnny is unamused and nods for him to continue.

"No it’s not a TV show, it is what Haechan is in right now"

Yuta raises his brow and looks down at the boy, "huh?" was all he could manage to say. Johnny takes his time to explain age regression and how it works; he wanted to make sure Yuta understood everything so he made sure to explain in excruciating detail. Taeyong and Mark were attentively listening as well, even though they had done their own research it still didn’t hurt to have a recap especially since Johnny was so good at explaining.

After he had finished his essay worthy speech he looks at the man across from him, ready to answer any questions he may have.

Yuta’s mind was racing with a million questions. The first one being, How did this all start? Personally he thought the idea of baby Haechan was probably the most adorable thing he’s ever heard in his life. In fact he already saw a glimpse of what little haechan was like this morning. A cutie.

Johnny had mentioned that little space was a stress reliever and Yuta could understand that aspect considering their lifestyle wasn’t the most calming. Being an idol took a toll on your mental and physical health and at times you feel like giving up. So he could fully understand why the youngest would want to do something like this. But he felt like he needed to know how, "If you don’t mind me asking.... how did this all start?" He questions "I mean how did you guys find out and become his..... what was it? Caregivers?" Johnny had explained that they were the boys caregivers but Yuta wanted to know exactly why the maknae choose them and nobody else. He thought he could have been a great caregiver.....Did the maknae even consider him for the role? He tries to shake that thought while waiting for the two to reply.

Jaehyun looks at Johnny and they share a panicked look. They couldn’t tell him that it was them who suggested little space to the boy or the fact this all started from Johnny desperately wanting to be a father. No, that would not sound right at all. But they knew they had to say something. Taeyong and Mark look at he two expectingly as well. They had never thought to ask this question but were now deeply intrigued on the trios origin story.

Johnny was stuck, he didn’t know what to say without exposing himself. Jaehyun could sense his friends nervousness and decides to answer, "Well it all started about a week and a half ago. Haechan had seen how caring and loving we were towards him and one day when we went to talk to him we talked about little space and he decided we’d be good caregivers." He lied. Well it wasn’t a total lie he had just rearranged the story a little and took out some parts. He looked at Johnny before quickly looking back at everyone else hoping they couldn’t see how red his ears were and how unsure he had sounded just a second ago.

Mark leaned back in his chair with a questionable look. He did not know if that was the full truth considering he had heard snippets of their conversion through the door that first night. But he decides to let it go because he knew his hyungs wouldn’t lie to them.

Taeyong and Yuta though hadn’t questioned Jaehyuns credibility at all, they believed the man and receded into their own thoughts. Yuta couldn’t help but to think if the maknae thought he was not caring enough and that’s why he did not come to him. It was unlike Yuta to be sulky but he couldn’t escape his thoughts. Was it jealousy of the two men? Or was it hurt? He didn’t know for sure but decided not to dwell on it for too long. He knew there was no use in holding onto negative thoughts and instead choose to think about how glad he was that Haechan had at least reached out to someone.

Meanwhile Taeyong was thinking of how proud he was of the two for stepping up and helping the maknae.

While everyone was lost in their thoughts, Haechan opened his eyes at the loss of noise. The room was silent and the little was confused considering they were all blabbering just a second ago. He shifts on Yuta’s lap so he was now facing towards the table and looks at Johnny who still had a panicked look on his face. Hyuck tilts his head, "Daddy, you okay?"

Johnny blinks twice before focusing on his baby, "Yeah baby I’m okay" he reassures.

Hyuck smiles behind his pacifier, "okaaayy~"

The boy then looks to his Appa, "Appa I bored~ We go play?" His eyes widen and he sits up a little more enthusiastically, "We go play at park?!"

Haechan puts on his best puppy eyes and looks at his Appa expectingly. Jaehyun thinks for a little, it was Friday so they only had dance lessons for an hour later in the day. They definitely had time to play at the park for a little. "Sure baby we can go to the park" he says with a soft smile.

Haechan claps his hands and cheers, "a-and hyungies come too??" He says while looking at Mark and Taeyong.

"Of course Haechanie!" They both say while smiling. Who could pass up a day with little haechan??

Hyuck then shifts again in Yuta’s lap so he was facing him, "Yu Yu hyungie come?" He questions with a slight pout. Yuta chuckles while ruffling the boys hair, "Sure Haechanie"

Hyuck cheers again and instantly hops off of Yuta’s lap. He runs and grabs his appa’s hand and pulls him towards the door, "Lets go! Lets goooo!"

Jaehyun laughs at the littles excitement, "Hold on Hyuckie first we need to get dressed."

Haechan stops in his tracks before turning around and pulling Jaehyun the opposite way towards his room chanting again, "Let’s go! Lets goooo!"

Everyone at the table laughs before getting up as well to quickly get dressed. Once Jaehyun and Hyuck enter his room Haechan is quick to rummage through his drawers to look for something to wear. Johnny is soon entering the room and widens his eyes in surprise at the mess of clothes on the floor, "Woah woah Hyuckie slow down" he chuckles while cleaning up the discarded clothing. Haechan turns from the drawer and drags Jaehyun towards him, "Appa help pwease?"

Jaehyun nods and looks through the drawer and ends up picking a fluffy sweater and some pants for the boy to wear, helping him put the items on. Mark enters the room right when Haechan was done getting dress and was in awe with how cute the maknae looked in the fluffy light blue sweater. He walked over to the boy and pinched his cheeks, "You’re just so cute!" He exclaims causing the boy to giggle.

The trio leave the room to allow Mark to get dressed in private. Next Jaehyun helps Haechan brush his teeth as Johnny gets dressed then they switch places and Johnny helps Haechan put on his shoes as Jaehyun gets dressed. They were quite a good team and Johnny couldn’t stop thinking about it. He knew they matched well but it was like they were in sync this past week when it came to caring for the little.

As Johnny finished tying the boys laces the rest of the guys were finished and ready at the door.

Jaehyun made sure to put a mask on Haechan in order to cover his pacifier, they didn’t need fans to spot them and have pictures of Hyuck with the item circling the internet. He also made sure to bundle the little with a fluffy scarf and hat since it was a little chilly outside. He laughed to himself as he put the cat ear hat on the boy. Absolutely adorable.

They all walked outside to start their short walk to the park across the street. Johnny thanked the universe that the park wasn’t too far so they wouldn’t have to wake their manager to drive them. It was basically next to their dorm.

As they got ready to cross the street Johnny looked at the bundled up little, "Hold my hand Haechanie. It’s important to stay close while we cross the street because it can be dangerous." He says with his hand extended. Haechan looked at his daddy scared and instead of holding his hand he held his whole arm. He didn’t know it was dangerous to cross the street. But he knew that his daddy would protect him.

Johnny smiles as they cross the street after dramatically looking both ways to show the little exactly what to do. They then finally made it to the small park that had lots of greenery and even had a pond with one or two ducks. Hyuck instantly lets go of Johnny’s arm and runs towards the pond, he turns to his hyungs, "Looky! It’s duckies!" He sequels. The group of guys couldn’t help but to laugh. Mark also runs to the pond to look at the ducks with Hyuck. The maknae had this twinkle in his eye, a look of pure amazement, while watching the ducks swim across the shallow water.

Mark was barely paying attention to the ducks as he stared at the boy with a goofy smile on his face. He finally patted the boys head before turning his attention to the water.

The rest of the guys run to the pond as well to look at the creatures. Everyone expect Yuta, he hangs back a little bit and watches his members as they coax the maknae to make the same sound as the ducks. Hyuck lets out a cute,"Quack! Quack!" while giggling.

Yuta smiles.

He could get used to this.

Chapter 12: Mark and Haechan

Summary:

Okayyy so this chapter is kinda angsty:/

A little recap if you don’t remember: When Johnny, Jaehyun, and Haechan discussed little space Mark was eavesdropping and heard the whole thing. Haechan was pretty upset that Mark knew but never really got to express his feelings.

So this chapter touches on that a lot.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Haechan sits in his room alone, writing down some lyrics for a song he’s been working on. It had been hours since he last left his room and he wondered if maybe his hyungs had made anything good for lunch. He sets his pencil down and begins to get up but then quickly sits back down when he hears an all too familiar laugh... Mark.

He rolls his eyes and decides that lunch could wait. There was no way he was going out there after he had made a big deal about the whole Mark situation a couple days ago.

It had been almost a month since Mark and Taeyong found out about little space (a couple weeks for Yuta). Haechan was starting to become more comfortable with the idea of his hyungs knowing. At first he was scared, he didn’t want them to see him differently, he didn’t want them to think he was weird. But slowly he pushed these thoughts away as he himself grew more accepting towards this new found part of him.

He hadn’t told Johnny or Jaehyun but that first week of testing out age regression caused a conflict within himself. One side of him wanted to be taken care of and cuddled, especially knowing that his caregivers loved him and were willing to go to extreme lengths to prove it to him. But the other side of him felt uncomfortable... he felt like he needed to hide away or else the world would ruthlessly judge him. This is why he couldn’t bare to have his best friend know his secret; when his caregivers told him that Mark knew he spiraled. He felt like his world had been turned upside down. Sure little haechan was upset for like three seconds and then forgave Mark but big haechan had still been upset.

Haechan has been ignoring Mark for three days now; not wanting to even be in the same room as him. He felt upset that his hyung had eavesdropped but mostly he felt scared. Scared that now that Mark knows about little hyuck he’ll want to stop being his friend. Even though his caregivers assured him multiple times that Mark felt guilty about the incident and one hundred percent wanted to support Haechan, he still felt uneasy about the whole situation. What was even more frustrating is that even though big hyuck was upset and made sure Mark knew it, little hyuck was the complete opposite.

His little self never missed a chance to cuddle with his "coolest hyung" (Mark’s words not his) which completely ruins his case and makes his anger seem fickle. He was tired of the constant confliction in his head and finally decided to confront his hyung a couple days ago. He remembers clearly how he marched confidently into their shared room, surprising an un expecting Mark and Yuta. He made sure to let out all his frustrations towards the rapper, not caring that Yuta was there to hear it, and also made sure to refrain from any pouting or stomping to seem completely serious.

Mark had looked guilty the entire time and made sure to apologize, he had told hyuck the same thing his caregivers did "I did my research and want to support you all the way". The words made Hyuck’s anger melt just a little as he saw the genuine look on Marks face but at the time he didn’t want to give in so instead he had scoffed and stormed out.

Now that he sits here alone, pen in hand, he can’t help but to think if maybe he acted a bit dramatically. Sure his anger was valid but now it was dragging out too long. He still feels upset but he can’t be upset forever, right? Maybe he should try actually talking with his hyung...

He groans, frustrated with himself. Hyuck puts the pen down and closes his book, "I’ll just talk to him..." he confirms while standing up. He reaches out for the door knob but stops midway. What if Mark doesn’t want to speak with him? I mean it has been three days... What if his hyung thinks he’s being immature and petty?

He lets out a huff, "No, Haechan stop thinking that way. Just talk to him..."

Hyuck takes a deep breath and reaches for the knob again, turning it painfully slow before opening the door. He heard that same loud laugh again as he stepped out into the dark hall. He slowly made his way to the kitchen, the laughter getting louder and louder. He finally makes it into the entrance and sees Mark laughing at a video Jungwoo was showing him. Johnny was sitting on the other side barely paying attention to the two as he ate his sandwich.

Hyuck shifts uncomfortably and tugs nervously on the hem of his hoodie, "hyung..." he says so softly you would think no one would hear it amongst the laughter. But weirdly that wasn’t the case, all three of them turn their heads toward the maknae. They look at him confused; how long has he been standing there?

Johnny raises his brows and looks at the other two before looking back at the boy "Me, Haechanie?"

Haechan lightly shakes his head before turning to Mark, "Mark hyung" he says softly again

Now it was Marks turn to raise his brows, shocked that Hyuck was actually talking to him. "Can I talk to you please?" The boy questions "Privately..."

Mark looks at Jungwoo and then at Johnny, who just shrugs, before standing up.

Johnny watches as the rapper slowly stands and make his way to the small maknae. Johnny clears his throat to ask something before they left to talk about god knows what, "Haechanie? Did you eat lunch?"

Haechan turns to face him with a slight head tilt, "No... " he notices Johnny’s disappointed expression and decides to explain, "It’s just that I was writing lyrics and then I was gonna come out here but then..." Johnny holds up a hand, signaling him to stop rambling, "It’s okay. I’ll make you a sandwich"

Haechan smiles, "Thank you hyung!"

Johnny just sighs and waves him away as he stands to make the boy his lunch. Mark stands awkwardly next to hyuck as they turn to look at each other before slowly making their way back to their shared room.

Haechan opens the door and hurriedly sits on his bed, too nervous to even look at his hyung. Mark steps into the room and closes the door behind him, "What did you want to talk about Haechan?" He questions as he sits on his own bed while crossing his arms.

Haechan bites his lip while once again fiddling with the hem of his hoodie. He usually wasn’t the one to shy away from confrontation or serious talks but right now he felt like sprinting out the room. He mentally slaps himself; he needs to talk to his hyung, now or never.

Hyuck stops his fiddling and instead shoves his hands in his hoodie pockets. He looks up and right into Marks eyes, "I just wanted to say... I’m sorry..." Mark raises his brow, why was he apologizing? He opens his mouth to say something but hyuck cuts him off, "I’m sorry for overreacting the other day and I’m sorry for ignoring you... it’s just that I was scared knowing you knew about me... about little space" Hyuck breaks eye contact and looks at the floor " I was scared that you’d think it was strange and.... a-and stop being my friend."

Hyuck can feel a tear run down his cheek as he says his last words. Hearing his thoughts out loud really hit him and the silence that followed hit him even harder. He knew it, Mark probably was thinking of dropping him as a friend. His soft crying now turning into full sobs. He tries to wipe the tears away but they just keep falling. He hated that he could never control his emotions, the last thing he wanted to do was cry right now. But he just couldn’t help it. It was like all his frustration was finally being let out.

To his surprise he feels arms wrap around him and pull him close. He looks up through teary eyes to see Mark looking down at him with a weary expression. Mark hugs the boy tightly and gently runs his fingers through his hair to calm him. They stay like this for awhile. Mark tries his best to sooth the maknae while hyuck sits there cuddled against his chest, confused.

It wasn’t until the boy had calmed his sobs and instead let out the occasionally sniffle that Mark decided to speak, "Listen hyuck.... I had completely understood why you were upset with me. What I did was an invasion of your privacy and for that I apologize. I was wrong and I’m the one who needs to say sorry not you. You have nothing to apologize for." He pauses to look down at the boy who was currently trying to wipe away the new tears that began to fall. Mark sighed and pulled hyuck even closer to him before continuing, "and why would you ever think for one second that I would stop being your friend?? I’ve known you for years... I know your smart, witty, and can be a handful sometimes. I know you love to give hugs to the members. I know you love to do aegyo at any chance you get and love to tease your hyungs... especially me. But most of all I know that your a kind and caring person who loves to help others. So can you tell me why you would think I would stop being your friend? Why would I want to lose someone like that, someone... someone like you. I would be pretty stupid to do that." He takes a deep breath, "Like I’ve already said hyuck, I am here to support you and I always will. I don’t think little space is strange. Not at all. So please don’t think that. Okay? I’m here for you... always."

Hyuck breaks free from Marks hold and looks at him before sobbing again. Mark panics, "A-are you still upset?"

Hyuck shakes his head as he sniffles "No... it’s just that...everything you said was so sweet." He wipes his eyes," Did you really mean what you said?"

"Yes, every single word"

Hyuck sniffles again before basically jumping at Mark, hugging and squeezing him tight. Mark wraps his arms around the boys waist and smiles; he was glad that Hyuck forgave him.

Haechan lets go and looks at Mark before chuckling slightly, "Wow I sure did cry a lot, sorry about that."

Mark smiles, "it’s okay hyuckie" he says as he pinches his cheek. Hyuck looks down as he starts to feel his face turn red. They hear a call in the distance "Haechan-ah! Your sandwich is ready!"

The two look at each other before Hyuck gets up and offers his hand to Mark. The older male gladly takes it and stands with ease. They smile at each other again, this time there was fondness in their eyes. Something felt different between the two but they ignored it as they walked out the room, hand in hand.

Notes:

Soo if you have any story suggestions let me know! I have some things that I want to happen that I plan on writinggg but it’s always good to have input from others! So if there’s like a specific scene you think would be nice to add to the story don’t be shyyy and tell me ^_^

Chapter 13: Lets have a group meeting

Summary:

Haechan calls a meeting with the 127 members

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

After resolving the mini drama with Mark; Haechan had a new confidence to him. He realized he might have been pushing his own insecurities onto his hyungs. He himself had been slightly uncomfortable with little space and had assumed everyone else was too. But now after a deep talk with himself he was ready to move on and let go of that mindset. This is why he has chosen today to tell the remaining 127 members about little space.

He had already informed his caregivers of his plan and they had helped him arrange a group meeting for later today during lunch. The two caregivers were excited the boy was ready to open up to the other members. It would make it much easier for them to go about things without having to sneak around each time Hyuck woke up in little space. However they did make sure to ask Hyuck multiple times if he was sure he was comfortable with doing this. They did not want him to feel pressured or anything. Haechan had reassured them that he was indeed ready and it was solely his idea, he felt no pressure whatsoever.

Now as Haechan stands in his room, pacing back and forth, he wishes he could take back his words. He was so nervous and just wanted to forgot about this whole thing. Maybe it wasn’t too late? He checks the time on his phone, it was 12:40pm. Damn it! He couldn’t back out now, he had set the meeting for 1 O’clock this afternoon.

He groaned, pacing coming to a halt as he plops himself on the floor. He tucks his knees to his chest and buries his head in his hands. He thinks of every possible excuse he could make, maybe he could run away? He chuckles bitterly at the idea. It was ridiculous.

The confidence he had felt just an hour ago completely vanished. He felt so vulnerable and scared, the insecurities he thought he left behind began to find their way back in. The familiar thoughts racing in his head, What if they hate you? What if? What if????

He tries to push them away but it’s no use, they surrounded him. Hyuck couldn’t stand it anymore and knew what could help him feel more at ease. Sunny, the scruffy brown bear that was his sole comfort item. He needed to find him! Haechan crawls towards his bed but doesn’t see the bear so he decides to look underneath it, nothing. He basically tears apart every corner of the room but it’s no use, Sunny was nowhere in sight.

He stomps his foot and lets out a huff; his frustration was building and building. Where was that damn bear? He decides to search elsewhere, flinging open his bedroom door and running towards the door across the hall. He doesn’t bother knocking and barges right in. Johnny and Jaehyun look at the boy in surprise, like a deer in headlights.

Johnny clears his throat as he watches Hyuck ignore their presence. The boy searched almost every corner of their room.

"Um Haechanie?" Johnny questions

"Yes?" he replies, barely even looking in his direction as he searches their closet.

"What are you looking for?"

"Sunny" he states simply

Jaehyun and Jonny share a look before turning back to the frantic boy. Jaehyun gets up from his desk, "You can stop looking Haechan-ah. I put him in the wash yesterday so he’s nice and clean in the laundry room."

Haechan spins and looks at him before sprinting towards door. Jaehyun stops him though, hand grabbing at his wrist. "I’ll go get Sunny…you sit here and relax" he says worriedly. He guides the boy towards Johnny before dropping his wrist and heading out the door.

Johnny motions for the boy to come closer and pulls him down on his lap. Haechan instantly cuddles into his caregivers embrace, already feeling a bit calmer. Johnny rubs circles on hyuck’s back trying his best to sooth any tension he’s feeling, “What’s wrong… hyuckie?"

Haechan feels himself relax even more and cuddles deeper into Johnny’s chest. Curse that stupid nickname, it truly has a hold on him. He knit his brows, "I’m… I’m nervous" he admits quietly. Johnny continues to rub circles into his back and looks at him in confusion, "Nervous? What are you nervous about?"

Haechan sighs, "… about the meeting today"

Johnny makes an ahh sound as he finally understands why hyuck was so frantic a second ago. He isn’t too surprised though, Haechan is known to be a bit anxious so this reaction was expected. Suddenly Jaehyun creeks open the door and swiftly walks in. With his hands behind his back he walks up to Hyuck and smiles at him, "Look who I’ve got" he exclaims while revealing the now clean bear. Haechan squeals as he grabs the bear and hugs him tightly, never wanting to let him out of his sight again. "Thank you ap- hyung" he corrects himself.

Johnny turns to Jaehyun with a knowing look; clearly haechan was close to slipping. "Aren’t you happy Appa found your bear?" Johnny tries. Haechan nods contently causing the older male to smile. It wasn’t until a few seconds passed that he realized what Johnny had said. He sits up and looks at him with a pout "He’s not Appa. He is HYUNG!" he emphasizes. Jaehyun chuckles as he goes to sit beside the pair.

Hyuck rest his head back on the older’s chest and continues to pout. He couldn’t slip, not right now! The meeting was in like ten minutes and he had to be big in order to properly explain everything. "I have to be big today. Okay?"

Jaehyun goes to stroke the boys hair, "But why hyuckie?"

Haechan rolls his eyes before glaring at him; they knew exactly what they were doing. "Because I need to be able to clearly explain myself. I can’t do that if I’m little! I need them to take me seriously."

Now it was both men who were chuckling. Haechan looks at them confused; what was so funny?

"Our fullsun is always so funny" Jaehyun teases while pinching his cheek. Hyuck whines and swats his hand away, he doesn’t understand what is going on.

Johnny decided to chime in upon seeing the boys confused face, "Hyuck we can explain to the others for you. We’ve done it before and we are completely fine with doing it again. I’m pretty sure Doyoung, Taeil hyung, and Jungwoo won’t mind either."

"Yeah. Clearly you are stressed hyuck, which is understandable. It’s okay to feel stressed or anxious sometimes. Alright? So if you want to slip go ahead, no need to keep fighting it." Jaehyun adds softly, only wanting the best for his baby.

 

Hyuck shakes his head. There was no way he was going to let that happen again. He needed to be the one to tell them! Each time someone found out it was while he was in little space and he wanted to at least once be able to be present during these conversations. He had to…

He really wanted to explain this to the two males but considering that he was in a halfway place between little and big it came out as, "Nuh uh! I have to explain by myself!" He didn’t mean to shout but he didn’t really feel in control at the moment.

Jaehyun widens his eyes at the sudden outburst, "okay okay Haechanie we understand but there was no need to yell."

Hyuck hides his face in Sunny and utters a small "sorry" he hated when he couldn’t control his emotions. He needed to get a grip quick before he talked to Jungwoo, Taeil, and Doyoung.

Jaehyun sighs and pats the boys head, "It’s okay baby"

That was it! Haechan has had enough, his emotions were all over the place at this point. He groans and wiggles himself free from Johnny’s embrace. He stands in front of the two and tries to muster up his best angry face (which really looked like a angry puppy). With Sunny in one hand and the other balled in a fist at his side he stomps his feet in frustration, "Don’t call me that!"

"Call you what?"

Haechan stomps again, "Baby! I am not a baby! Am not!"

The two could sense the oncoming tantrum and decide it was best to stop it now before it got even more out of hand. Jaehyun quickly apologizes as he beckons haechan to come back and sit with them. Haechan backs away and in a flash he dashes out the door.

Jaehyun gasp but is quick to follow him with Johnny right behind. Haechan runs as fast as he can down the hall and into the kitchen. He wasn’t paying attention and accidentally bumps into someone, almost knocking them over.

"Woah there Haechan, slow down" a familiar voice reprimands

Hyuck looks up and meets eyes with a very confused Doyoung. He hugs his hyung tightly, "Hyungie they’re being meanies!"

Doyoung raises his brow, "Who is?"

And as if right on cue the two caregivers run in panting before locking eyes with doyoung and then hyuck. "Them!" He whines as he points at them, accusingly.

The other 127 members watch in confusion. It was 1:05 to be exact and they have been patiently waiting at the table like Haechan had advised a few days prier. What was this meeting about they all wondered. Taeyong and Mark had some clue as to what Haechan wanted to talk about. Yuta on the other hand was clueless like the rest of them.

Doyoung had only gotten up to check on the three missing members and to his surprise they ran in at that exact moment.

"What did they do?" He questions, hoping the maknae could explain a little more.

"They call me baby! But I not a baby. Right hyungie?"

Hearing those words it finally clicked in Yuta’s head what this meeting was about. Haechan was going to tell the other members about little space. Of couse! How could he not have sensed that? He turns to Taeyong and Mark to see if they had the same realization, "I think hyuck is little right now" he whispers to them. They nod and give him a look that says ‘well no shit’ and Yuta rolls his eyes and directs his attention back to hyuck.

"Uh I don’t think you are…" Doyoung says a little unsure on how to answer considering he has no context of the situation. He then looks at the two males in the doorway and raise his brow. Jaehyun just sighs, "We'll explain. Just sit please." Doyoung basically waddles his way to his chair with an unmovable hyuck attached to him. He tries to sit and motions for hyuck to sit beside him. The maknae refuses and instead opts for his hyungs lap. Yuta looks at the pair, this seems familiar he thinks as the memory of his first encounter with little Haechan crosses his mind.

Johnny is first to speak, "So I bet you all are a bit confused as to why Haechan has called you here" Jungwoo and Taeil nod in unison, clearly puzzled.

Johnny knows Haechan will be quite upset with them later on and he hates that. But he also knows that if he tries to call off the meting and have hyuck come with them it won’t end without the boy throwing a tantrum. Besides Haechan will have other opportunities to explain everything all by himself to Wayv and to the Dreamies.

"Well then let’s get started"

Notes:

Next chapter: How did the meeting go? One person isn’t quite on board with the whole little space thing.

Chapter 14: Now 127 knows

Notes:

Hello! Hi hiii~ Im back after a long time lol

Chapter Text

It has been exactly thirty minutes since the meeting started and Jaehyun and Johnny finally finished explaining about Haechan’s situation. The room fell eerily silent, only a few murmurs could be heard as everyone was taking their time to process the new information. Confusion was evedent on everyone’s faces, well expect little Haechan; he was too busy playing with Doyoungs hands and the many rings on his fingers.

Doyoung thinks silently to himself. It was his first time hearing about age regression and he is having a hard time fully grasping the concept. How did it work exactly? Does this happen to Haechan involuntary? Did the other two force him? He knows they spent around thirty minutes listening to a full presentation on the matter but he still is not comprehending any of it. He slowly looks down at the maknae in his lap and watches as Haechan inspects each of his shiny rings, looking at them like they were some newfound treasure. Doyoung worriedly smiles at the boy before gently running his fingers through his messy brown hair. What did they do to you? He thinks. Did you want this?

Next to Doyoung was Yuta, Mark and Taeyong who are not too worried with the current situation. They’re already knowledgeable on the subject and decided to quietly discuss more important matters, such as what stuffed animal Haechan would like best as a present. A strawberry cow? A lamb? A dino?? These were the important questions!

Meanwhile Jungwoo and Taeil shared similar thoughts on little space and their maknae. They both thought it was no big deal and would love to help out with an even cuter version of Haechan(if that was even possible). Taeil had initially thought the whole idea was a bit odd but as he sat and thought more he concluded that it wasn’t weird at all, in fact it was totally understandable. He understood why the youngest would be interested in such acts considering it was stressful to be an idol and not only that he was also in two different units, Nct127 and Nct Dream. The poor kid must be overworked and stressed beyond belief; it’s no surprise that he would need some type of escape.

Jungwoo was not surprised by the news, the maknae already acted quite childlike to begin with. He was more shocked that he didn’t see the signs earlier considering he already knew someone else in the group who was also a little. He had actually found out about this other person a couple months ago. Do they know each other? He thinks before answering his own question. Yeah, they probably do. But maybe he should ask? Before he even gets the chance to open his mouth Doyoung is already talking aloud.

"So was this Haechan’s decision?….Little space and whatnot?" He ask with a quirk to his brows and a stare that could make anyone quake in fear.

All eyes were on him, everyone could sense his slight distrust. The room was silent as the members turned their heads to the two caregivers. Jaehyun looks at Doyoung ready to answer but quickly crumbles under his skepticism. Johnny notices and decides to answer instead, "Of course" he says confidently "It was Haechan who had came to us about the whole ordeal"

There he goes lying again; just like he did to Taeyong, Mark, and Yuta. It was just a tiny lie, he thinks to himself. It wasn’t harming anyone to slightly alter the truth. Was it?

Doyoung eases up on his tense stare and leans back in his chair, a calm hand coming up to pat Haechans head once again. "Okay" he says dryly. He knew they would never force Haechan to do anything he didn’t want to do. He knows that but he just couldn’t shake the thought that maybe this wasn’t the maknaes idea. He sits and thinks again before sighing. He really has no reason to be suspicious, if anything he should be happily trying to help the maknae just like the rest. No accusations but instead love and support.

"Okay what can I do to help?" He finally says. Jaehyun and Johnny look at each other before looking back at him with a smile. "Well all you really can do is be supportive" Jaehyun answers "Oh! And Haechan hasn’t told Dreamies and Wayv yet so maybe just keep it between us"

"I can do that"

Johnny smiles even wider, "Great!" He then turns his attention to Taeil and Jungwoo, looking at them expectingly. Taeil chuckles, "Of course I will support our Fullsun."

"Yeah me too!" Jungwoo follows.

"Yay!" Jaehyun cheers. Jungwoo laughs a little "I mean look at him, who wouldn’t want to support and protect him?" He says while pointing to the distracted little. Everyone turns their gaze to the maknae and watches as he continues to fiddle with Doyoungs hand. Each one of them had soft smiles plastered on their faces.

Hyuck can feel their stares and drops Doyoungs hand before slowly looking up. He looks around the room and knits his brows together, " Why ev’one looks at me?" He questions with a tilt to his head.

Taeyong laughs and reaches over to pinch the littles cheek, "We’re looking at you because you’re so cute"

Haechan’s confused pout turns into a mischievous grin and he giggles, "I know! I always cute!"

Taeyong dramatically gasp at Hyuck’s boldness, causing the little to laugh even more. "You’re so sassy!" Haechan smiles and sticks his tongue out at his hyungie causing everyone to laugh too.

"I think someone needs to be taught a lesson." Taeyong declares while quickly reaching for Hyucks tummy. He starts tickling him, causing Haechan to squirm on Doyoungs lap while laughing hysterically. He tries to get away from his hyungies hands but Doyoung holds him tight in his lap making sure he can’t get away. "Hyungie let go! I hafe to get away fwom yongie hyungie!" He yells while laughing.

"Sorry hyuck but I can’t do that" Doyoung smiles down at the maknae as Hyuck gives him a shocked look of betrayal. "I’ll stop only if you say sorry for being so sassy!" Taeyong bargains.

Haechan thinks a little before finally shouting out, "Okay! Okay! I sowy!"

Taeyong stops tickling the poor maknae and sits back in his chair with a pleased grin. Doyoung releases him from his grasp and fixes the boys crumpled shirt. Haechan calms down before looking back up at his yongie hyungie and screaming, "Just kidding! I only sowy for being so cute!" He then jumps off Doyoungs lap and races out of the kitchen. Taeyong is once again gasping in absolute shock before chasing after the maknae, ready to tickle him again. Doyoung, Mark, Yuta, and Taeil are all behind him as their laughter leaves the kitchen.

The caregivers smile to themselves as they watch the members leave the kitchen. It wasn’t until they heard a cough that they turned their attention back to the table. There sat Jungwoo, awkwardly. He looked at both of them before opening his mouth, "So I have a question…" he trails off

Johnny shifts his eyes, "Yes?"

"Does Haechan know about the other little in the group? Well I guess I should also ask if you guys know too…"

Jaehyun looks confused, "What? Wh-What other little?"

"Jungwoo, what are you talking about?"

Jungwoo bites his lip. Maybe this was a bad idea. He probably should have kept quiet. "Uh hello?" Johnny questions. Jungwoo looks at them dejectedly, "Huh? Oh sorry…. I thought you guys knew. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything?"

Johnny looks at the other male confused before looking at Jaehyun. Another little? He thought. All this time there was a little in the group and they never knew? Maybe Haechan could have a playmate. A new friend around his little space age could be great! He needed to know who the other person was? Did they already have a caregiver? If yes, then who? He had so many questions.

He then hears a squeal across the hall. He can only guess that the members finally caught Haechan and were ruthlessly tickling the poor boy. He turns his attention back to Jungwoo, "So who is the other little?" He asks excitedly. Jaehyun quickly jumps in and adds on "I mean if you’re comfortable telling us and it’s not supposed to be a total secret"

Jungwoo shifts uncomfortably in his seat, "I’m not completely sure if it’s okay for me to tell you guys. I kinda found out by accident, plus I was so sure that you guys already knew"

Johnny sits back in his seat, disappointed, "Ah okay."

"But I can ask his caregiver if it’s okay to tell you guys and maybe I can tell him about little Haechan?"

Johnny’s excitement is back, "Yes!"

"Okay great I’ll get back to you guys tomorrow" he says while leaving and heading towards his room.

Johnny claps his hands together before excitedly shaking Jaehyun’s arm, "This is so cool! Haechan will have a playmate!" The other caregiver laughs at his friends excitement. Johnny had a way of being infectious when he was happy. Just another thing he loved about him. "Yes I know bab- I mean uh hyung"

Johnny lets go of his arm and gives him a confused look, "What were you just about to call me?"

Shit! He was such an idiot. How could he have slipped up like that? He needed to keep his feelings in check and make sure he thought before he spoke. His cheeks had a pink tint to them and his heart was racing, "Uh nothing….haha"

Awkward.

"I think maybe we should check on Hyuck and tell him about the other little, right?" He says trying to clear the air.

"Yeah right" Johnny agrees with a quizzical look. He noticed the light blush on Jaehyun’s cheeks and laughs in his head. Was he going to to call me babe? He smiled while following him out the kitchen. Cute.

It was quiet, which was odd considering the dorm was filled with loud laughter just a second ago. Jaehyun walks down the hall and hears murmurs coming from Mark and Haechan’s room. He slowly turns the knob and opens the door. There on the floor are the members sitting and smiling at a happy Haechan. The maknae was dramatically describing the dream he had yesterday night, "A-and then a big scawy monster pop up but Markie hyungie throw a big~ watermelon at it and it bonk his head and he die"

Everyone let out big gasp, "Oh my gosh Haechanie you must have been so scared!" Yuta exclaims.

"Yeah, good thing your hyung was there to save you" Mark says proudly. Taeil rolls his eyes at him but Mark doesn’t care. He was happy to be the hero in Haechan’s dream. Jaehyun clears his throat to gain everyone’s attention. It works perfectly as everyone turns their heads towards the door.

"What happened to the tickling?" He questions

Taeyong chuckles, "Well Haechan told me if I stopped tickling him then he would tell me about the wild dream he had last night and I couldn’t pass up such a great deal."

"Yeah Appa it was a rweally wild dweam" hyuck adds.

Jaehyun nods and smiles at him before addressing the room, "Um we were actually wondering if we could talk to hyuckie alone? Please?"

The rest of the members get up from their places on the floor, making their way out the door. They each make sure to wave goodbye to the maknae. Doyoung even makes sure to give him a kiss on the cheek before heading out. He looks at the trio one last time before carefully closing the door. Jaehyun is first to lower himself next to Haechan, copying the boy by sitting criss crossed. He beckons Johnny to sit with them as he begins to speak, "So Hyuckie we have some news…"

Hyuck panics for a second. News? Whenever they said they had news it was always bad! He pouts, "Bad news, Appa?"

"What? No baby it’s not bad news. It’s super good news!"

Haechan’s pout disappears as he lets out an excited gasp, "Super good?! Tell me pwease~"

Jaehyun and Johnny smile at the boy and Jaehyun continues with his sentence, "Jungwoo has just told us that there is another little in the group! Isn’t that exciting??"

Haechan takes a second to process the information before happily clapping his hands. He goes to shake Jaehyun’s arm, "That means I have someone to pway wif!!"

Jaehyun chuckles at the littles antics and can’t help but to shake his head, like father like son. Johnny notices too and laughs, Hyuck and him were so similar and he loved it. Haechan calms down and lets go of his appa’s arm, prompting Jaehyun to continue, "Also Jungwoo is going to tell the other littles caregiver about you! Is that okay?"

Haechan excitedly nods his head; he was practically bouncing off the floor with excitement, "Yesss~ that okay!!" He stops his bouncing for a second and tilts his head, "Who the other little??" He was so excited that he didn’t even realize he had no idea who this other person was. Were they a Dream member? A Wayv member? He was so excited to find out.

Johnny awkwardly clears his throat, "Well you see Hyuckie… we don’t know yet"

Haechan pouts, "Oh" he says disappointed.

"But Jungwoo said he’ll ask the littles caregiver if it’s okay for him to tell us. He’ll ask tomorrow"

Haechan continues to pout; he wanted to know right now. But he knows he has to wait and lets out a long sigh, "Okay~ I wait till tomorrow"

"Okay great! Now let’s head back to the rest of the members. It’s lunch time now and you haven’t properly eaten" Jaehyun says while already standing and lifting the maknae with him. They all head out the door making their way back to the Kitchen. The whole time Haechan couldn’t stop thinking about who his new playmate could be. He sighs again, guess he’ll just have to wait to find out…

Chapter 15: Playdate Pt.1

Summary:

Hi hi~ I’ve been gone awhile. I didn’t know what to do with this chapter but I finally finished it! Anyways…

Haechan meets the other little…

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Johnny is woken up with a pat on his arm, "hyung… hyung… come on hyung wake up!" He hears an undistinguishable voice say. He groans in mild annoyance, not wanting to even open his eyes. He turns in his bed away from the intruder and softly covers himself more with his blanket. That earns him another pat on the arm; except this pat was a lot harder, "Ow!" He yelps as he quickly turns to see who would dare hit him so early in the morning.

He’s met with the smiling face of the one and only Kim Jungwoo. The younger looks like he ran a mile with the way his cheeks were flushed and the light sheen of sweat on his brow. Johnny trades his annoyed look with confusion as he tries to wake himself up.

"Hyung! I have good news!" He practically yells.

Johnny groans and rubs the sleep from his eyes, trying to be present in the situation. His efforts were useless against the groggy cloud that surrounded his head. Another groan escaped his lips, there was no use in fighting his tiredness. A couple more minutes couldn’t hurt, right? Slowly he lowers his tired body back onto the bed only to be greeted with another harsh slap. Johnny jolts back up and let’s out a sigh of defeat. Dejectedly he waves his hand to signal jungwoo to continue.

"You know how I said I was going to ask the littles caregiver today??"

Johnny nods tiredly.

"Well I was too excited and asked him last night… and~ he said that they’ll both be here today for a play date with Haechanie!"

Johnny stiffens in shock, what did he just hear? Today? His mind wasn’t allowing him to process what he just heard. He sat there confused; fumbling to form a proper sentence, "Uh…W… What? Today? They’ll be here today?"

Jungwoo excitedly nods, completely oblivious to his friends panicked demeanor.

Johnny is at a lost for words, too much information was trying to make its way through his brain. This was great and bad news. Great because Haechan can have a new play pal sooner than later but awful because they’re unprepared. What time were the guest expected to be here? Did they even have time to get ready? He takes a deep breath to calm his racing mind but it’s no use.

He was panicking.

He throws the blanket off of him and quickly hops off his bed, "What time is it? When will they be here?" He asks frantically, eyes darting around the room like a wild animal. He was desperately trying to plan out what needed to be done in order for him, Jaehyun, and Haechan to be ready as soon as possible.

"They said they’ll be here at 10:00am" Jungwoo reaches in his pocket to check his phone "…and right now it’s 9:50am"

The doorbell rings.

Oh shit.

Jungwoo turns to the sound before looking at Johnny with an awkward face, "Guess they’re early"

They hear the door unlock and some hushed chatter from Taeyong greeting the guest. Johnny feels like he’s going to explode but just before he can he hears a familiar sound. The wooden bunk bed creaks loudly, filling the room. From the top bunk peeks a groggy Jaehyun. He first looks at Johnny before turning his tired gaze to Jungwoo.

"What’s going on? Why are you guys talking so loud?" He ask half asleep

"Jaehyun get up quick! Jungwoo just told me the other little and his caregiver are here for a playdate with hyuckie! They’re in the living room right now!"

Jaehyun freezes. Caregiver? Little? Here for a play date? Right now? His mind also went into complete panic mode. But thankfully unlike Johnny his brain quickly hardwired into action. He throws off his blanket and loudly jumps from the top bunk with a big bang; everyone in the building probably heard that drop.

Jaehyun quickly runs past his two clueless members and straight to his mess of a closet. He rummages through multiple piles of clothes, looking for any semi clean pair of pants. Finally he lands on a freshly washed pair, grabs it like his life depends on it, and nearly falls over trying to put them on. He whips his head around in a frenzy towards Johnny and Jungwoo, "Hyung go get dressed! Jungwoo, quickly run and tell them we'll be out there soon. Tell them how we literally just woke up" Jungwoo nods and sprints out the room "and I’ll wake up Haechanie"

Jaehyun grabs a random hoodie and forces it over his head as he runs out the room and straight towards Haechan’s. He turns the silver knob and peeks inside the barely lit room. There laid a sleeping hyuck with the covers draped half on his body and half on the floor. Typical, Jaehyun thought with a sigh. Haechan was known to wiggle around in his sleep. That boy could never keep his blanket on him through the night. Heck, he was shocked the blanket was even half on the sleeping boy and not completely on the floor.

Jaehyun gazes over to the other side of the room and sees an awake Mark, lazily scrolling on his phone. He walks in the shared room and makes his way towards the maknae, "Morning hyung" he hears from across the room. Jaehyun turns and sees Mark waving at him.

"Morning Mark. Listen, we have guests today. It’s another little and their caregiver '' Mark looks at the older, bewildered "Yeah… I know, it’s crazy. Anyways I need to wake up Hyuckie so why don’t you join the others in the living room?"

Mark nods and throws on a warm sweater before heading out the door.

Jaehyun turns his attention back to the sleeping maknae and softly taps the boys shoulders, "Hyuckie~ Hyuckie~ wake up baby"

Haechan wiggles around, trying to drown out whovers voice is above him. He grabs the blanket and buries himself in it, covering his entire face. Couldn’t he just stay in bed and sleep?

"Haechanie wake up please, we have guest"

Hyuck groans. It recently occurred to him that his hyungs always woke him up, each morning the same routine. He wasn’t that much of a late sleeper…. well…that’s a lie. He was. But that did not mean he needed someone to wake him up every single day of the week. Why won’t they let him sleep in peace? He would happily sleep through the afternoon if he could, blissfully dreaming without a care in the world. But no, they won’t let him.

Haechan groans again and slowly brings the covers from his face. Why was it so bright? The sunlight was shining through the window and directly into his eyes. Perfect, even the sun won’t leave him alone. He tries to swat away the pesky rays of light. But it’s a useless attempt. He whines while blinking away the sleep from his eyes.

Hyuck begrudgingly looks up at the intruder and furrows his brows in annoyance, "I’m awake…."

"Good morning Hyuckie~"

Haechan pouts, still annoyed, "Mornin…"

Jaehyun reaches his hand out to the younger and gently caresses his cheek, "Why so grumpy?"

The boy sighs, "I wanted to sleep more…"

Jaehyun chuckles lightly and moves his hand through the boy's unruly hair, trying to unknot the tangled mess, "I would have definitely let you sleep more but we have guests waiting for us. So I need you to get ready"

"Guest? Who is it?"

Jaehyun smiles, "Well remember when we told you there was another little in the group?"

Haechan nods.

"Well~ they’re in the living room right now! And they’re waiting for you!"

Haechan gasps. The other little is here right now? He couldn’t believe it! His grumpiness vanishes and is quickly replaced with excitement. He sits up and roughly tosses his blanket to the side, startling Jaehyun in the process. He jumps out of bed and drags the older to the closet, "Let’s go! Let’s go!"

Jaehyun chuckles at the maknaes’ sudden burst of energy. He watches as the boy quickly sifts through his clothes in his closet before landing on a fluffy pink sweater with stars on it. The boy then runs to his drawer to get a pair of dark blue jeans. He throws the clothes on his bed as he tries to quickly undress, starting with his pajama shirt. Hyuck was in such a rush that his movements were uncoordinated and sloppy; his shirt got stuck halfway on his head. He flops around like a fish out of water, trying his best to pull the dang shirt off. Jaehyun can’t help but to laugh at the struggling boy.

"Aaahhh! Appa help me! I’m stuck!"

Jaehyun strides over to the wrangling mess that was Haechan and gently grabs onto the shirt, tugging it fully off his head. Haechan lets out a huff, "Thank you"

"You’re welcome" Jaehyun laughs while ruffling the boy's hair. He then helps him put on his sweater and pants. Haechan runs over to the standing mirror on the opposite side of the room. He turns to the side, looking over each and every detail of his outfit. He does a little twirl, "Don’t I look pwetty Appa?"

Jaehyun smiles, "Yes very~ pretty"

Just as Jaehyun went over to ruffle the boy's hair for the one hundredth time the door slowly creaked open and Johnny peeks inside. The tall male is quick to inform them, "Jungwoo told them how we just woke up and they told him it was no big deal, they don’t mind waiting for us. We can take our time… and Taeyong is basically chatting their ears off"

Jaehyun nods, "Okay, we’re already dressed. We just need to brush our teeth and we’re ready for the day."

Jaehyun ushers the maknae through the door and heads towards the bathroom. As they walk down the hall Haechan reaches out to grab Johnny’s hand and smiles up at him, "Mornin’ daddy!"

Johnny smiles back, "Good morning hyuckie!" He cheers, trying to match the others bursting energy "How are you today?"

"I super duper happy!" He practically yells while dramatically gesturing with his hands.

"Well I’m super duper happy seeing that you’re happy" Johnny says while giving the boy a soft pat on his head.

They enter the bathroom and Jaehyun quickly ushers Haechan to the sink to help him brush his teeth. He made sure the boy had brushed every single tooth and flossed. He’s seen the amount of candy the little eats and does not want him to get any cavities. Even though Johnny and him barely allow the boy to eat sweets the other members are constantly sneaking candy for the boy to eat.

Once they’re all finished they take one last look in the mirror before heading down the brightly lit corridor. They hear small chatter and light laughter coming from the living room. The one voice that could be clearly heard was Taeyong’s. No doubt the leader was asking the caregiver a million questions just like he did to Jaehyun months ago. Jaehyun lets out a hushed laugh at the thought.

As they entered they were unnoticed, quietly making their way deeper into the room. Taeyong, Yuta and Mark sat across from their guest while Taeil and Doyoung sat on either side of him. Each leaning forward, excitedly asking questions. Jungwoo stood beside Mark, trying his best to apologize for his band mates rapid questioning. The trio slowly make their way around the corner to get a better look at who awaited them. Shock and curiosity overtook the two caregivers as they saw who sat on their couch. It was a familiar pair; Kun and Yangyang.

Yangyang looked like he could fall asleep at any second as he sat on top of Kun’s lap, snuggled against his chest. He quietly plays with the strings on Kun’s hoodie, twirling the strings in every direction, as Kun nods along to whatever question the others throw at him. Haechan takes another step closer and gains the attention of the new caregiver. Kun turns his head away from Taeyong, Mark, and Yuta to focus on the boy beside him, "Hi Haechan!" He looks behind the boy "Oh and Good morning Jaehyun. Good morning Johnny."

The two caregivers greet him with a small ‘hello’ while Haechan is quick to engulf the man in a tight hug. It was an awkward position considering Yangyang was still on his lap and Kun couldn’t completely turn his body to give a proper hug. But nonetheless it clearly was satisfactory to the younger as he backs away with a wide grin plastered on his face, "Hi! Kunnie hyungie!" He finally shouts.

Kun smiles at the boy's bursting energy. "Cute" he whispers to himself. He only greeted the boy and was already falling for his cuteness. Kun turns his head to the little in his lap and gently taps him, "Yangie look who's here"

Yangyang let’s go of kuns hoodie strings and lets out a tiny yawn. He slowly looks up at the boy beside him, "Hi" he says softly as he tries to hide himself away in Kun’s chest. Kun looks at Yangyang and then looks at Haechan. He could see that the other little was confused by Yangie’s actions. The boy makes his way around the couch and stands directly in front of them. Hyuck looks at the hidden boy with scrunched brows before giving him a little tap, "Hello? My name Haechanie. Wanna be friends?" He asks with a smile.

Silence.

Yangyang didn’t move. He sat there still as a rock. Haechan was utterly confused; did he say something wrong? People always wanted to be friends with him because he was nice and funny. So why was Yangyang not talking to him? Did he not want to be friends? The boy pouted, "He not like me?" He says on the brink of tears. He runs over to Johnny, crashes into him, and hugs him tightly. He felt like he needed all the comfort he could get right now. Johnny slowly rubs the boys back, "It’s okay Hyuckie. I’m sure Yangyang is just a bit shy"

Haechan tilts his head confused, "Shy?"

Kun nods his head in agreement and quickly chimes in, "Yes he’s right Haechanie. Yangyang can be shy with new people. It takes him a little longer to open up."

The caregiver pats Yangyangs hair with soft strokes and looks at him with a sympathetic smile. He remembers that first week he became Yangyangs caregiver. It was a week of growth and self discovery; not just for Yangyang but for himself too. Finding out Yangyang was a little was very surprising. But even more surprising than that was discovering that big and little Yangyang were complete opposites. Big Yangyang was loud, energetic, and loved making new friends. He was always running around the dorm, finding anyway he could annoy his hyungs. While little Yangyang was more quiet and introspective. Opting to sit and quietly play with his toys versus bouncing off the walls like his usual self. But little Yangyang wasn’t void of all excitement; he could still be loud and energetic but only around people he truly trusted. He loved running around and playing with Hendery and Xiaojun. They were always playing lots of fun games. Even though those games always ended with one of them getting hurt or worse scolded by Kun. Yangyang also loved playing games with Winwin. Surprisingly Winwin was a great person to play pretend with. They would make up imaginary lands and have fun running around the house to save princesses and slay dragons.

Yangyang enjoyed playing and having fun with his hyungs but he also appreciated some quiet time to himself. He also always appreciated a true friend. He always counted his stuffed animals as his friends and his hyungs, they were always there for him when he needed them. But he never had made a friend that was also a little. When Jungwoo told them that Haechan was also a little he was in shock. He never expected there to be someone just like him in his group. He remembers being super excited to meet him but also really nervous.Little Yangyang could get anxious sometimes when meeting new people and he hated it. He wishes he could just get over his nervousness and just talk to people.

He also wishes he could’ve said more than a small ‘hi’ to Haechan. He didn’t mean to make him feel sad by his actions. Maybe he can just say sorry and everything will be fine? Yeah, he thinks. If he says sorry then Haechan won’t be sad anymore. Yangyang slowly lifts his head from Kun’s chest and looks at the confused boy. He could still feel his nerves bubbling up, his hands slightly shaking. Yangyang takes a deep breath and decides to push through his anxiousness.

“Uh… H-Haechanie?” He questions. The boy turns his head towards him, looking at him in surprise and curiosity. Yangyang pouts as he notices all eyes are on him. He thinks of hiding in Kun’s chest again but quickly shakes the thought and continues, “I didn’ mean to makes you sad…sorry”

Haechan let’s go of Johnny and slowly makes his way in front of the other boy. He looks at him for a second with a pout, “It’s okay… I not sad anymore”

Yangyang smiles to himself. He was so glad Haechanie wasn’t upset anymore. Johnny looks at the two and smiles softly. He really hopes these two will be great friends. Johnny looks at the kun and sees a mirror of his own expression, soft smile with a twinkle in his eye. He knows the other caregiver is thinking about the same thing. He gently pats the caregiver's shoulder to gain his full attention, “Maybe the three of us should chat while the boys play out here?”

Kun nods in agreement. He was so excited to chat with other caregivers and ask them a ton of questions.

“Ooo I wanna come too!” chimes in Taeyong

“Me too!” Yells the rest of the members.

Jaehyun chuckles at their ridiculousness, “Well you all can’t come. Someone has to stay with the boys”

The room falls quiet as everyone looks between one another. Who would stay? Of course everyone wants to stay and play with the littles but everyone also wants to ask Kun every question imaginable. Finally two voices speak up in unison, “I’ll stay” says both Jungwoo and Mark. They look at each other and smile “We’ll both stay” Jungwoo says “Go have your little chat. We’ll take great care of the boys”

Jaehyun smiles and nods towards the 98 liner before motioning the rest of the members into the kitchen. Kun looks at Yangyang for a second, he softly combs through the boy's hair, “Will you be okay for a few minutes while I go talk to the other members?”

Yangyang sighs, he wanted to say no and just stay on Kun’s lap but he knew he couldn’t. He knows how much Kun has been excited to meet other caregivers. He couldn’t take that away from him. He shakes off any thought of doubt and gives Kun a little nod, “I’ll be okay”

Kun smiles at him before giving him one last pat on the head. He gently moves the boy from his lap and onto the couch. He waves him goodbye as he walks into the other room. Yangyang sits on the couch awkwardly, avoiding any eye contact. Oh how he wishes he wasn’t so nervous. He’s talked to Haechan before so why did it feel so different now? Was it because they were in little space? He mentally groans.

Haechan sits quietly on the ground, watching the other boy. He wasn't used to so much silence. He hated it. Haechan needed to talk or else he would explode. But he knew if he talked too much it might freak Yangyang out. His daddy did say that Yangyang was shy so maybe he just needed to approach Yangyang more quietly instead of his usual loud way. Haechan scoots closer to the boy on the couch and gently taps his knee. Yangyang slowly looks at hyuck.

“Uh, do you likes ta dwraw?” He asks softly.

Yangyang nods.

“Well I haves lots of dwrawing stuff. Oh oh and I haves lots of glitter!”

Yangyang smiles. He always wanted to use glitter with his drawings but Kun always said no. Ten always tried to convince him but Kun was strict when it came to mess. Kun knew if Yangyang got glitter all over the dorm than he would be the only one cleaning it up.

Yangyang bounces a little in his seat at the thought of playing with the shiny glitter. He stands up in excitement, “Where’s da dwrawing stuff?”

Haechan stands up too and smiles at the now excited boy, “It's in my room. Let’s go get it!” Haechan takes the boys hand to lead him down the hall but before they can even get past the couch they’re stopped. Jungwoo jumps in front of the boys, “I’ll go get the stuff you need. You two stay here.”

Haechan pouts and leads Yangyang to the living room table. He sits and pulls Yangyang beside him. He notices the other was radiating happiness. It was the complete opposite of how he behaved just a couple minutes ago. Hacechan smiles at him, “So you rweally like glitter?”

Yangyang nods, “Yes, but Dada never let me play wit it”

Haechan nods in understanding, “ Well here you can play wif it all da time! Oh and I hafe lots of toys too!” Haechan then goes on to name all of his toys. His usual loud self was making its way into the spotlight.

Yangyang smiles at the talkative boy. He was starting to realize that he liked hearing Haechan talk. The excitement on his face and the twinkle in his eye was captivating. He also realized that Haechan didn’t force Yangyang to talk either. He was fine with him just sitting quietly and listening. He liked that. It made him feel at ease.

He sat there happily listening to the other little chatter and chatter as they waited for Jungwoo to come back. Haechan went from listing all his toys to somehow talking about his favorite cartoons. But Yangyang didn’t mind; he was just so happy…happy to have a new friend.

Notes:

Were you surprised the other little is Yangyang??😆 Next chapter is Play date Pt.2 where you’ll get to see Haechan and Yangyang play and have fun! Also Kun isn’t Yangyang’s only caregiver… he has another one…

Chapter 16: Playdate Pt.2

Summary:

Sorry for taking so long to update :/

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Jungwoo didn’t exactly know what he was looking for. He told the littles he’d get the craft materials for them, but he failed to ask Haechan exactly where that was. Now here he was five minutes later searching every corner of the boys room. The one thing he knew was that the materials were probably in some type of box or bag considering Johnny and Taeyong would never let the maknae have paper and pencils lying around. The 95 liners were sticklers when it came to tidiness.

Jungwoo looks in the closet, under the bed: heck he even looks in Haechan’s sock drawers. Where could that damn box be? He lets out an exasperated sigh. There was no way it was in here… and then it hits him, it must be in Jaehyun and Johnny's room. Yeah that makes sense, he thinks to himself. He dash’s down the hall towards their door and barges inside. Quickly he scans the room before diving under Jaehyuns bed. Bingo! There was a big yellow box with pretty sunflowers painted on it. This had to be for Haechan, it basically screamed fullsun. He quickly grabs the box and awkwardly shuffles out from under the bed. He takes off the cover and reveals the various craft materials hidden inside. Relief washes over him at finally finding what he was looking for.

Jungwoo scans the box and then smiles to himself thinking about how spoiled the maknae is. After finding out about little Hyuck and discovering that half of 127 already knew he could see how fond everyone was of the boy… especially Taeyong. The leader made sure to show everyone the toys he had bought the little. He chuckled to himself, he has no doubt that it was Taeyong who bought Haechan all of these art supplies.

Jungwoo rummages inside and finally decides to take a couple tubes of glitter, glue, a pack of scented markers, colored pencils, and some sheets of paper. That should be enough for now, he thinks as he closes the box back and returns it under the bed.

Slowly Jungwoo makes his way back to the two littles waiting in the living room. The boys didn’t even notice his return: too engrossed in their conversation. Haechan had moved on from talking about his many toys to instead listing all his favorite candies. Chocolates, lollipops, gummy bears and blah blah blah. Yangyang sat there with a soft smile just listening to the others rambling. Slowly he spots someone in the corner of his eye and quickly turns around, causing Haechan to stop mid sentence. Yangyang looks up and makes eye contact with Jungwoo. The older man smiles at him while awkwardly shuffling with the materials towards the living room table.

Jungwoo lays everything out and begins by handing each boy a piece of paper. He then holds up the tubes of glitter, “I’m going to trust that you guys can use this without making a mess, right?” He ask cautiously

Haechan nods his head enthusiastically, “Right! You can twust me hyungie!”

Jungwoo nods and then turns to the other little, “Yangyang?” The boy quickly looks up “Can I trust you to not spill glitter everywhere?”

Yangyang nods his head shyly, “Yes”

Jungwoo smiles at the boy, “Okay great!” He hands each boy a tub of glitter, sets the bottle of glue right in the middle of the table and then opens up the pack of markers for them. Once he’s done he stands from his crouched position and makes his way back to the couch. Jungwoo plops himself next to Mark and lets out a relieved sigh. Mark looks at him, “You okay?”

He nods, “Yeah… I’m just hoping I’m not going to regret giving them glitter… and glue”

Mark laughs and turns his head to the two littles happily coloring, “I hope so too”

Haechan begins by grabbing the yellow marker, “I draw a sunflower!” He announces as he starts outlining the vague shape of a flower. Yangyang just nods his head as he sits and thinks of a good drawing idea. A mermaid? A unicorn? A mermaid AND a unicorn?

And then the perfect idea hits him, “I gonna dwraw a rainbow” he says with an excited grin. Yangyang starts by grabbing purple and drawing a very wobbly semi circle. Then continues on to blue, this line being even more wobbly than the last. He pouts. Why were his lines so wobbly? The boy grabs the next color for his rainbow, green and then orange. Each time he tries to make a perfect semi circle, trying his best to steady his hand. They were better than the first two lines but still looked a bit wonky. He sighs and turns to look at hyucks drawing; it was a bunch of scribbles that vaguely looked like a sunflower. He looked at the other little and could see how happy he was with his messy drawing. Turning back and looking at his rainbow he begins to think ‘maybe my lines don’t need to be perfect’.

Haechan stops coloring for a second and looks over at Yangyangs paper. His eyes widened in amazement, “Wow! Your rainbow look pwetty so far!”

Yangyang looks at him in disbelief, “Really?”

“Yes, rweally!”

Yangyang smiles, “Thanks hyuckie” he says as he happily begins to add the last colors to his rainbow.

Mark and Jungwoo chuckle watching the two boys, they were too cute.

In the kitchen the 127 members were gathered around the table, all their eyes were on Kun. Kun sat there with his legs crossed and back leaned against the wooden chair. He felt relaxed and happy answering all the questions everyone had for him.

“So when did you find out Yangyang was a little?” Doyoung inquired. He leaned in closer as he waited for the other to answer.

Kun smiled, thinking about the day he found out, “ It was actually two years ago during Nct2020 promotions”

The room burst with a chorus of ‘ohs’ and ‘no way’. They were all quite shocked.

“That’s a long time…” Jaehyun says, stunned.

Kun looks at him confused, “Really?”

“I mean… yeah. For Johnny and I this all started about a month and a half ago.”

Kun’s eyes widened, “Really?! That’s so short! You guys are really new at this?”

The pair awkwardly nod their heads. Kun can’t help his shocked face. He remembers the beginning and how hard it was: working out routines, setting rules, and just everything. It was a lot. He sits up straight, he can’t let his friends go through the same struggles he did! From this point on he vows to help Johnny and Jaehyun with anything they need.

“Got any advice?” Jaehyun ask sheepishly

Kun thinks for a few seconds before answering, “Hmm I guess my first piece of advice would be to have a partner to help you but you guys already have that checked” he says casually while pointing at the two.

Jaehyun almost chokes, “Partner?!”

“Uh yeah… I just meant someone who can help you take care of Haechan…Not like a boyfriend or anything” Kun explains, “I mean unless you guys are dating?”

Jaehyun can feel the panic rising in his chest. Why would he ask that? Has the room gotten hotter? And was everyone staring at him? He frantically leans forward, ready to shut down Kun’s statement. But before he’s able to say anything Johnny is already speaking, “Nope we’re not. Well not yet” he says slyly

Jaehyun's eyes basically bulge out of his head. What?! He looks around the table to be met with his members teasing smiles. He goes to look at Johnny but quickly looks away. How could he say that so casually? And in front of everyone?

Kun looks at the two and chuckles a little, “Well alright” he then leans back in his chair, “Anyways so having a partner is great because…” Kun goes on to explain why but Jaehyun can barely focus. Are we all just going to move on from what just happened? He sneaks a glance at Johnny, he could see him smirking at him from the corner of his eye. He refuses to look though as his cheeks begin to heat up. He mentally groans hoping no one could see (everyone could see but they decide to ignore it in order to spare Jaehyun any more embarrassment). Johnny decides to turn back towards Kun, the smirk never leaving his face. Jaehyun is cute when he’s flustered, he thinks.

“…so yeah” kun ends and leans forward again, awaiting another question. Taeil quickly pitches his question, “Do you have a partner? To help you?”

Kun nods his head with a proud smile, “Yes. Ten and I are Yangyangs caregivers”

Taeil looks mildly surprised. Last time he checked Ten didn’t really fit the parent role. But maybe he’s changed since being with WayV? It has been a long time since he’s actually contacted the young man. “Where is he?” He asked curiously. He would think for Yangyangs first play date his other caregiver would be here.

“Ah… he’s actually filming a dance show in China at the moment” Kun says solemnly. The others could sense the sadness in his voice but decide not to say anything, “But he said he wishes he could’ve been here”

Taeil nods his head at that and leans back in his chair. He didn’t mean to dampen the mood. Johnny leans forward a little and rests his hand on Kun’s knee, giving it a little squeeze. Kun looks up at him and is met with a soft smile as if to say ‘it’ll be okay’. Kun smiles back at him and then turns his gaze back to the other members. Straightening up again he asked, “So how did you guys feel when you found out about Haechan?”

Taeyong is first to speak, “I was confused…and a little worried” he furrows his brows as he recalls the memory “But after Jaehyun had explained everything to me that day, I felt eager to help. Now I’m really fond of our little Haechanie and love that he’s able to share this part of himself with us.”

Doyoung agrees, “Yes, it’s nice that he trusts us.” He pauses, “I also felt the same as hyung…confused and worried.” The other members except Johnny and Jaehyun nod their heads, all having felt the same feelings. “But now all of that confusion and worry is gone.” He finishes with a smile.

Kun feels relieved. He is glad to hear how accepted Haechan is by his members. He had no doubt that they did but it was nice to hear the verbal confirmation.

“And what about WayV? How did they feel about Yangyang?” asks Yuta

Kun ponders the question. How did WayV feel? If he remembers correctly they all found out at the same time and all felt the same: relief. He explains why the members felt this way. How the weeks leading up to that day were absolute hell. Yangyang was so irritable and sensitive for two weeks straight. He was always moping around and if anyone dared say anything slightly critical he would snap. The members didn’t know what was going on. At first they thought maybe he was stressed about the upcoming 2020 promotions: longer dance practices, meeting the other Nct units, etc. But then after a while they realized that maybe that wasn’t the key problem. It was something else, something deeper, but they didn’t know what.

It wasn’t until Kun had finally had enough and called Yangyang out for his behavior, right there at the dinner table. If there was a problem then Yangyang needed to speak up and tell them about it, moping around wasn’t going to fix anything. The leader finished by telling the maknae how disappointed he was and that’s when it happened….The thought of disappointing Kun and the weight of his actions had hit Yangyang like a truck. The breakdown that ensued had shocked everyone. Kun had thought maybe he had been too harsh but it wasn’t until Yangyang finally spoke up through sobs that they understood.

Apparently he had been battling a lot of things for a long time. The boy explained to them about little space and how he himself was a little. He had no caregiver and would usually hide away in his room to regress. But everything started to go downhill about a month before… after the manager had told them they would be preparing later that month for Nct Resonance, Yangyang had decided he wouldn’t regress for the rest of the month. He told himself that he needed to be ready and focused for the next couple weeks of training. But that was a really bad idea…

The first couple of days were fine but after a week had passed he began to crack. He was becoming more and more on edge: it was awful. Now here they were at the dinner table with a sobbing Yangyang. The members all felt sad hearing the boys reasoning for his actions, he was hurting and they hated that. They made a promise to help out whenever they could, Ten and Kun became his official caregivers, and they worked out a plan. It was after they had cleared the table and went to bed that each one of them felt relieved. Relieved to know their youngest wouldn’t have to go through that again, at least not on his own.

“….and that’s what happened,” Kun finished. The table was quiet, each person in their own thoughts. Kun could tell they were all trying to process everything he had said. It’s alarming to know one of your members was struggling by himself and he knows they’re all probably still a little worried. He wants to assure them that Yangyang is fine now, under good care. But before he can even utter a word there’s a scream. Not just any scream…it’s Yangyangs.

Everyone is quickly up and out of their chairs, dashing towards the living room. What they see is unbelievable… Yangyang and Haechan are sitting on the floor, a pool of glitter surrounds them.

There. Was. Glitter. EVERYWHERE.

Both boys had glitter all over themselves: in their hair, on their hands and on their clothes. Mark is standing in the middle with glitter all over his hands. He turns to look at the members with a look of guilt, “I’m so sorry hyungs! I tried to stop them!”

Kun sighs in frustration, “You gave them glitter?!”

Mark shakes his head frantically, “No! It was Jungwoo”

“Where is he?!”

“He went to the bathroom…”

As if on cue Jungwoo calmly strolls back into the living room, he looks at the members with a confused look. Why were they looking at him angrily? He then looks at the two littles and gasps. Wtf happened?! He runs over to them and quickly grabs the glitter tubes out of their hands before turning towards Mark, “Mark?! I left to use the bathroom for a couple of minutes! What happened?!” He then turns his attention to the boys, “and you two… I thought you said I could trust you?”

Neither one of the boys are able to look Jungwoo in the eyes. Haechan knew he was in big trouble. He didn’t mean to have a glitter battle, it was an accident…

Haechan had finished coloring his sunflower, a collection of yellow squiggly lines and green for the stem. He went in to add more details. He wanted this to be his best drawing ever! He remembers in the midst of his concentration he vaguely heard Jungwoo say, “Mark can you watch them for a sec?” And “Boys I’ll be right back. Be good, okay?”

He also remembers lazily saying ‘okay’ as he continued coloring his masterpiece. Now it was time for the glitter, the thing that would take his drawing to the next level.
He goes to grab the glitter but in his excitement he accidentally knocks one of tubs over and onto Yangyangs drawing. They both gasp, surprised by the sudden action. Mark notices and quickly gets up from the couch, ready to clean the mess. But before he can even make it to the table Yangyang is already taking glitter and throwing it on Haechan’s drawing. Haechan gasped and pouted. He didn’t mean to spill the glitter? But now this meant war. He grabs the other tube and sprinkles glitter on the other boy's shirt. He yelps in surprise but is just as quick to retaliate, throwing glitter all over Haechan’s pants.

Mark quickly rushes over to the two littles on the floor, desperately trying to grab the tube from their hands but it’s no use as they dodge him. While he tries to grab the glitter from Haechan the boy expertly maneuvers his hand around him and dumps a whole pile of glitter on Yangyangs head. The other boy screams in shock. How dare he?! This was going to take forever to wash out of his hair! Just before Yangyang could make his next move the rest of the members pile into the room…

…Haechan lifts his head slightly to look at his Jungwoo hyungie, “I’m sorry hyungie! It was accident! A-and Yangie start it!” He accuses.

Yangyang gasped, “Nuh uh!”

“Uh huh!”

“It was you!”

“No, you~”

The three caregivers just look at each other and sigh.

This was a mess…

Notes:

Next will be Play date pt.3 ^_^