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mingi is beyond burned out. for the past few weeks, it’s been nonstop stress piling up because of his busy schedule and it feels like it’s just been dragging him by his wrist, begging him to go from one place to another to practice practice practice. and it’s not like all of the members haven’t noticed it, either. their leader knows him especially well, and his trio of wonderful caregivers decided to gather around to come up with this master plan to get the light inside their little sunshine back in again. the moment mingi stepped out of the shower, san was first to kick their plan in motion.
“hey, bun!” he says, gently placing a kiss on mingi’s cheek, “we miss you, baby. and you’ve been so burned out, haven’t you?” mingi sighs.
“i know what you’re trying to do,” he whines, “i don’t think i’m in the mood for this right now. can we try this another time?” san smiles sympathetically.
“i don’t think so, baby. why don’t you try for dada still, okay? i know somewhere far into your brain is telling you that you can do this.” mingi nods, allowing san to take him to their room. “how about we change you into some comfy clothes now, ok? bet it’ll feel nice after your warm shower.” mingi hums in delight. he sits down on his bed, watching san go through his closet in search of one of mingi’s favorite onesies.
“i want that one, hyung.” mingi says, pointing to his favorite space themed onesie. san hums, grabbing the onesie and closing mingi’s closet. mingi stands up when san approaches him, beginning to undress himself when he gets stopped by san.
“baby,” san coos, “you’re to little for that. let dada undress you, okay? don’t want you getting your arm stuck trying to take off your shirt, petal.” mingi blushes, lowering his head in an attempt to hide his face as san helps him out of his outfit and into his onesie. the moment the onesie is zipped up, san can physically see the change in mingi. he smiles adoringly as mingi’s shoulders slump and his pupils dilate in size. he lifts his head with a bright smile, and immediately hugs his caregiver. san hugs him back with a fond look in his eyes.
“hi there, baby!” san whispers. mingi pulls his head back to smile at his caregiver, stars covering his eyes. he babbles a response back, which only creates a giggly san. “let’s go show the others that you’re little, yeah?” mingi gives a nod even though he has no idea what san is actually saying, and he lets san pick him up and place him on his hip before making their way to the living room where the rest of his caregivers are. once they catch the sight of mingi, yunho is the first to rush over and greet him. hongjoong sighs in relief seeing mingi so little.
“hi, baby bun!” yunho says excitedly. mingi flinches, but giggles immediately when his eyes and mind register yunho.
“ ‘pa!” mingi practically shouts, unaware of his volume. yunho gently shushes him, smiling and kissing the little’s cheek. mingi’s mind buffers in shock.
“yes, gi! it’s papa! hows my pretty little bun today, hmm?” he coos, outstretching his arms to take mingi away from san. san practically death glares at yunho, finally deciding to give mingi up when the little one becomes restless in his arms. mingi babbles onto him, the stars in his eyes shining as he goes on and on to his papa. yunho can’t help but giggle and give his input as he makes their way to the living room couch.
the moment yunho sits down, mingi crawls over to the other person sitting on the couch. hoes hands gently touch the book in front of the person, causing them to lower it and look at him. mingi smiles at them, a squeal leaving his throat when the person smiles back.
“hi, bub!”
“ ‘ddy!” hongjoong melts, cupping mingi’s face and peppering kisses all over his cheeks. mingi giggles, his cheeks turning a shade of pink.
“that’s right, our smart baby! daddy’s so happy to see you, he missed you this much!” he says, stretching his arms as far as he can. mingi watches his arms as if his life depends on it. “in fact, daddy missed you so much, i think he just wants to cuddle you all day! how does that sound, hmm?”
“aa.”
“cuddling it is, then! what do you want to watch?” no response. hongjoong smiles. “good choice, baby. i think we should watch blues clues, too.” mingi’s eyes light up at the mention of his favorite show. hongjoong and yunho catch notice of it, and they both smile. yunho leans in closer to the pair and pulls it up on netflix.
the trio continue to watch a marathon of episodes, other members joining every now and then to give mingi a bottle with milk and honey and singing along to some of the silly songs the cartoon plays.
“mingi, they got a letter! what do you think it’ll be?” yunho asks. mingi points to the tv, babbling into hongjoong’s shoulder which earns him two kisses on his forehead. two!!
“i completely agree, baby. i think you’re just the smartest bun out there. you could solve all the clues and the show would have to love you!” yunho rambles. hongjoong agreed fondly, but he’ll never say that aloud. after multiple more episodes and an all day long marathon of baby rattles, potty breaks and Blue’s Clues, mingi falls asleep during the Old McDonald song portion of the last episode; the two caregivers turn down the volume of the TV. they take a picture of mingi curled up into hongjoong and send it to their group chat that mingi isn’t in. san is quick to take his baby back again to cuddle him to the land of stars and the moon and everything dreamy along with it.