Chapter Text
Chenle was bored. There wasn’t really much for him to do in an empty house and he’s already plowed through the tall piles of video games in his room. He had considered inviting the dreamies over but thought otherwise when he realised the amount of cleaning up he had to do if he did. Jisung was busy today too, which immediately scratches him off Chenle’s mental list. Chenle sighs, resting his head lazily against his arm as he sat at the living room. The TV was playing some romcom which Chenle couldn’t care less about, adding on to the staticky noise filling Chenle’s head. He could really go for some company right about now.
His phone pinged a message from none other than his favourite ge, who decided to check up on Chenle and his well-being. Chenle snatched his phone off the table, replying to Kun in a matter of seconds. He whined about being lonely, beckoning Kun to come over and spend time with him. Kun answers with an “okay” emoji and proceeds to ask Chenle if he had lunch. Chenle says no and Kun sends a sticker of Ten, the caption writes, “ah, you really annoy me”. Chenle snickers as Kun tells Chenle he’ll be there within twenty minutes, with groceries in tow. Chenle sends a thumbs up emoji and stands up, opting to tidy up the house before Kun arrives.
The doorbell rings and Chenle dashes to it, opening the door and giving Kun a hug. The older hugs back, giggling at Chenle. They sit at the kitchen, catching up with each other as Kun prepared a simple meal for Chenle and himself. White rice with side dishes paired with it, the two start digging in. It has been a while since they had spent time together and Chenle was determined to make the most out of it. He begged Kun to stay over for a while longer, in which the older reluctantly agreed. After the hearty meal, Kun took the initiative to clean the plates, telling Chenle that he’ll join him in his room soon. The younger nodded enthusiastically, racing himself to his room. Kun sighs, smiling softly at Chenle’s eagerness to be in his company.
Kun makes his way to Chenle’s room. He knocks on the door and a muffled “come in” replies back. Kun peeks his head in to see a Chenle practically vibrating with excitement has he held on to his Nintendo Switch. However, Kun’s attention wasn’t directed to the switch, no, it was directed at the large bear stuffie sat at the foot of Chenle’s bed. The bear was easily the same size as Kun, and the fur seemed fluffy and soft too. Cuddling it must feel like laying on a soft cloud. Kun felt himself slip into little space. He had not been able to fall into little space for the past two weeks and the stress had started to take a toll on him. Chenle seemed to notice the dazed expression Kun had and waved his hand in front of him, trying to get his ge’s attention. Kun blinks, his eyes darting back to Chenle. “Kun ge? You okay there?” Chenle asks, slightly concerned. Kun doesn’t reply, instead, he points at the large toy resting behind him.
Chenle turns around, glancing at the bear before turning back to Kun. “The bear? I got it from a fan during a fanmeeting. It’s really soft.” Chenle says, observing Kun’s expressions. The older stares at the bear, a longing look in his eyes. “can.. can I hug it?” Kun whispers in a shy voice. Chenle nods hesitantly, unsure of what was happening to his Kun ge. Kun smiles happily, taking a mad dash over to where the bear was and tackling it down into a hug. Chenle reaches for his phone and dials for the next most trustworthy ge he can think of, Sicheng ge. The line clicks and a tired voice answers, “... hello?”. Chenle cups the speaker with his hand and whispers into the microphone. “Sicheng ge! I think there’s something wrong with Kun ge!” The worried tone in Chenle’s voice was enough to wake Sicheng up, judging by the sudden loud shifting from his end.
“What?! Is he okay?!” Sicheng asks, his voice an octave higher. Chenle takes a peek at the strange Kun still cuddling his bear, looking like he’s in eternal bliss. “Yeah, he’s fine, he’s just acting... weird.” Chenle says. Sicheng goes quiet and Chenle wonders if he’s going crazy. A muffled voice joins Sicheng and Chenle listens in, attempting to catch who the mysterious voice is. Suddenly the voice becomes much clearer, and Chenle registers that there is not one mysterious voice but many who joined the call. “Chenle, the wayv members are here with me right now.” Sicheng informs him and Chenle nods, although none of them could see him right now. “Seriously, Lele? You called Sicheng and not me? That hurts.” A voice piped up. With such a high pitched voice, it can only be Ten. Chenle gives a mischievous giggle, “sorry ten ge, I needed someone responsible.” He replies. “Why you little-“
“Alright” sicheng interrupts, “Chenle, can you tell us what happened up till now?” Chenle takes a second to collect himself before reciting the scene that took place to the group. Multiple gasps rang out and Chenle gulped nervously. He was worried that the outcome would be more serious than he thought it to be. “Chenle, what’s happening to Kun right now is called little space.”
“Little space?”
“Yes, little space.”
“What’s little space?”
“Little space is where you get into the head space of a child, entering a child like care free space away from the adult world. Its a way of coping from some sought of stress they may be experiencing.”
“Oh... Kun ge is in little space then?”
“Yep, and he’s not the only little that you know. Someone else in NCT is also a little, but it’s not my place to reveal who.”
“aw.. okay, then what am I supposed to do now?”
“Take care of Kunnie for the time being, we’re all outside for lunch right now, we’ll be arriving at your house in an hour.”
“Kunnie? And how am I supposed to take care of Kun ge?”
“Kunnie is what little Kun goes by. Just make sure Kun doesn’t hurt himself while playing. He loves cuddles and talking too so make sure you do that. If you have anything a child might like, it’ll be enough to entertain him.”
Chenle keeps quiet, processing all the information in his head. “Okay.. it’s just like babysitting.. I can do this.” Chenle whispers to himself. He thanks Sicheng and hangs up the phone. Kunnie was still snuggling the bear and had not noticed Chenle sitting beside him. He squeaks when a hand touches his shoulder, only relaxing slightly when he realised it was Chenle. “Hey kunnie, is the bear soft?” Chenle asks, mentally cringing at himself. What kind of question was that? Kunnie looks up at Chenle, nodding his head happily. A beat of silence passes by and Chenle clears his throat, garnering the attention of the little yet again. “How old are you, kunnie?” Kunnie raises seven fingers proudly, “seven! Kunnie’s a big boy!” The little smiles brightly, causing Chenle to mentally coo at him.
“You sure are, kunnie” Chenle chuckles, ruffling Kunnie’s hair. The little responds with a giggle, leaning into the touch. Cute. Chenle pulls Kunnie into a hug, feeling the little melt into the embrace. “Let’s play some games, kunnie! Look at this, it’s called a Nintendo Switch!” Chenle exclaims, backing away from the hug to grab the switch lying beside him. He turns on the switch and the MarioKart screen flashes on. The little’s eyes immediately widens, having seen his yangyang gege play it with junnie and his baba on multiple occasions. They usually wouldn’t allow him to join in, mostly because baba would give them a glare if Kunnie asked to play with them. Chenle plays a round for demonstration, telling Kunnie which buttons to press and the rules of the game, in which Kunnie listens attentively.
Handing over his switch, Chenle kept an eye on kunnie who was currently struggling to avoid the obstacles. Chenle shouts instructions to Kunnie and the little tries to follow, mostly to no avail. Finally the round ends, with Kunnie being in last place. He pouts, staring at the screen, Chenle’s username at the bottom of the ranking mocked him and his inexperience to the game. Kunnie looks up at Chenle, pouting even more. Chenle playfully rolls his eyes, allowing Kunnie to play as much as he wants. Who could say no to that pout anyways. The more rounds Kunnie played, the more he got used to the game mechanics. Finally, he was able to secure himself in fourth place. It wasn’t much, but it was a great improvement as compared to the first time.
Kunnie cheers loudly as his kart races through the finish line, his gaze immediately falls onto Chenle, wanting his praise. Chenle cheers with him, telling him he did well. “Fourth place isn’t much but good on you, I guess” Chenle teased, feigning a look of nonchalance. Kunnie may be a little, but he still is Kun, and Kun is incredibly fun to tease. Kunnie scoffs, “you’re just jealous that I can do better than you.” He says, sticking out his tongue at Chenle, in which the older mirrors his actions. “We’ll see about that.” Chenle smiles, setting the game into multiplayer mode. Although Chenle was already experienced in the game, he allows Kunnie to win in order to boost his ego (and not because kunnie looked cute when he smiles, no, definitely not that).
Kunnie had also taken to call Chenle his gege. He confessed that while his other caregivers are also called gege, YangYang and Chenle were the only ones that treated him as an actual brother. The others were more careful and doting around him, which Kunnie doesn’t mind. However, the two acted less like Kunnie was a precious treasure and more like close-knitted siblings. They weren’t afraid to tease him and be brutally honest in their opinions. Kunnie was glad to have that balance. The doorbell rang just as the duo finished their round. Chenle stood up and answered the door, greeting the WayV members as they made their way into the house. “Baba! Mama!” Kunnie squeals as he tackles his two caregivers into a hug. “Baobei! How’re you feeling?” Sicheng asked. “M’ good, gege let me play mariokart!” Kunnie giggles. “MarioKart? Didn’t baba say not to play that game, kunkun?” Ten tilts in head in confusion, playing with Kunnie’s hair as he recounts the number of times Sicheng told the younger caregivers off for even considering letting Kunnie play the games.
“It’s only because they curse a lot, ten.” Sicheng says, eyeing the members behind him. “Hold on, did kunnie just call Chenle ‘gege’? Didi, did you call him that?” Yangyang interrupts, staring at Chenle with wide eyes. “Yep.” Chenle says, popping the ‘p’ syllable, “he did, kunnie says that I act like a big brother to him too.” He finishes, giving a small smirk at YangYang’s direction. Yangyang fumes, crossing his arms as he plucks the little from Ten’s embrace and wraps his arm around Kunnie. “Jokes on you, Lele, I spend time with didi more than you do. So clearly, I’m the favourite gege.” Yangyang retorts, staring Chenle down despite the younger being taller than he is. The two stared back at Kunnie, looking for a definite answer to their bickering, only to be faced with a shrugging Kunnie who was clearly enjoying being fought over. It seems that the mystery of who Kunnie’s favourite big brother was will not be solved for now.
Lucas clears his throat, catching the attention of everyone in the house. “Shouldn’t we head back to the dorm now? Kunnie looks pretty tired.” He says, pointing at the little. True to his words, the little looked like he was going to topple over if not for the support of YangYang’s grip. Upon hearing that, kunnie whines, telling his caregivers that he’s not tired. “Come on, little one, we can have a cuddle session once we get back home, how does that sound?” Dejun says, coaxing the little to follow him and Kunhang to the car, both caregivers grabbing his hands each. Kunnie nods, smiling at the thought of a cuddle pile. “Bye gege!” Kunnie shouts with what’s left of his energy as the door shuts, and before Chenle could reply.
“Would I be able to see him again?” Chenle pouts, giving his cutest sad-eyes. Ten rolls his eyes but smiled nonetheless. “Yeah, you and the dreamies can visit us if you’d like. Hyuckie already knows about it so he can help explain the situation if you want.” Chenle gasps, “he knows? And he didn’t bother to tell me? I’m offended! Wait, does that mean he knows who the mystery little is? Ten ge! Answer me!” Chenle shouts as Ten ignores him, shooing the members out of the house. “I dunno, you’ll see.” Is all ten said as he waves goodbye to the younger.
Chenle sighs as he sits in the now quiet and empty house. He already misses Kunnie and it’s barely been five minutes. Pulling out his phone, he plans to inform the dreamies about kunnie and hopefully score a visit to the wayv dorm soon.