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Minho was only halfway awake when he walked to the kitchen that morning. It must have been why it took him a good ten seconds to figure out that the sudden sound of a child wailing was, in fact, the sudden sound of a child wailing, and not, as he'd first thought, a figment of his imagination.
The sound was coming from the kitchen, where Minho walked after a moment's hesitation. There was in fact a child in the kitchen, curled up on the floor by the counters, tiny fists curled tight and tears running down his cheeks.
Minho could only stare for moments longer, before carefully sitting down on his knees next to the child. He may not have much experience with small children — aside from the time he was one himself — but he was used to cats, and the easiest way to spook an unfamiliar cat was to move too quickly.
He reached his right hand forward to pat the child's head, cooing as he did. The child instantly stopped wailing, and turned to look at him. He blinked his big, glossy eyes, and sniffled.
"Did you fall, baby?" Minho asked, unknowingly falling back into the baby-talk he always used with his cats. "Does it hurt?"
The child nodded, his lower lip trembling slightly.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Head," the child replied, surprising Minho with how much of an accent the Korean word held. Was that… was that an Australian accent?
Ignoring that for now, Minho cooed, and asked, "Can I lift you up, baby?"
The child nodded slowly, seeming to start being slightly apprehensive of the situation. Minho didn't blame him — he couldn't even figure out how the child had managed to get inside their dorm in the first place.
Minho scooped the child up, securing him in his arms but grunting from the weight — definitely heavier than his cats — before gently kissing the top of his head. "It will be alright, baby."
Carefully, so as not to jostle the child, Minho stood up and began rocking him. He had started sniffling again, probably overwhelmed from being in an unknown place, alone but for strangers.
Just when the child had finally calmed back down, blinking his eyes every few seconds in clear exhaustion, Hyunjin came into the kitchen and promptly screamed.
"Yah!" Minho scolded as quietly as he could, putting the hand not wrapped around the child over his ear. "You can't just scream!"
"But that's a child!" Hyunjin protested, way too loud.
"I know, now shut up, you're scaring him!"
The child had started squirming when Hyunjin screamed, and Minho was close to dropping him by now. When he heard the sound of footsteps in the hall, he crouched down, afraid he would actually drop the child from all his squirming otherwise.
"Be quiet, please," Minho begged when Felix and Jisung came into view.
Jisung, of course, therefore proceeded to loudly ask, "Is that a child?!"
The child squirmed more intensely, successfully getting loose from Minho's grip. He ran off on wobbly legs, slipping past the three boys frozen in the doorway.
"See what you just did," Minho sighed. "You scared him.
"Minho-hyung, what have you done?" Felix asked with wide eyes.
"Why do you think I've done anything?"
"Because you were holding a child! In our dorm!"
"So?" Minho shrugged and stood up to follow the child. "That's not my fault."
"So you don't think Chan will be mad when he finds out you had a child you never said anything about?"
"He's not my child," Minho shrugged and pushed past the boys — who were still frozen in the doorway.
"Guys? Chan-hyung? Minho-hyung? Why is there a child hiding behind the sofa?"
Minho sighed — once again — and headed towards Seungmin's voice. At least he was keeping somewhat quieter.
"Because your 00'line friends scared him," Minho said when he came up next to Seungmin. "Can't you tell them to be quiet so they don't scare him? This whole place is unfamiliar for him."
Seungmin blinked at him, the fact that he had many questions clear on his face. "Okay…"
When Seungmin walked off Minho crouched down next to the couch, peering in behind it to see the child.
"Hey baby, you wanna come out?"
The child shook his head, tiny arm wrapped around his legs. "I'm hungry."
Minho felt sympathy for him, guessing that maybe he had been trying to look for food when Minho found him fallen to the floor. "If you come out I can give you food."
"Food?" Both surprising and not, the word was spoken in English — the Australian accent was seeming more plausible, but also even stranger. How come an Australian-Korean kid had found his way into their dorm? Was it just a coincidence that two of the people living in the dorm were Australians?
"Yes, food," Minho said with a smile, hoping it would convince him to come out from behind the couch.
Hesitantly the child crawled out and held out his arms for Minho to pick him up.
"Good boy," Minho cooed as he secured his arms around him. "They didn't mean to scare you. C'mon, let's get you some food."
Minho walked back to the kitchen, where Changbin and Jeongin had also woken up and come to. They didn't react with the same shock as the others, so Minho guessed they had been warned.
"Do we have any bread? Or something else suitable for a kid?"
"I think we have some rice cakes in the cupboard?" Jeongin said around his cup. "But I think there's a loaf of bread too."
"Thank you. Could someone help me make a sandwich?"
Jeongin nodded and took the bread and butter out to start making it. Meanwhile Minho sat down at the table, hoisting the child up so he wouldn't slide out of his grip.
"You have a child?" Changbin asked, an eyebrow raised in exasperation where he stood next to the coffee brewer.
"What makes you think I have a child?" Minho asked, hugging him a little tighter.
"What else am I supposed to think when you're suddenly holding a child when I wake up?"
"Shut up Changbin."
Changbin huffed but turned away, and Minho was silently happy that he did — they didn't need to start an argument right now.
Jeongin had finished the sandwich and gave it to Minho, who handed it over to the child. He took it and happily started munching, for now ignoring the other boys in the room.
"Has anyone seen Chan-hyung, didn't he come back last night?"
"Yeah, he was passed out on the couch when I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, at least," Jisung replied.
"I can't believe it — with Chan-hyung missing Minho-hyung is our oldest and 'most responsible'," Changbin huffed.
"Guys, I promise, I had nothing to do with this." Minho closed his eyes and continued in a quiet voice, "I do try to be a good hyung to you guys"
"I didn't mean—"
"It's okay, don't worry about it." He shook his head and turned to Felix. "Can you come help me with a thing?"
"Uh, sure."
Minho lead the way back to the couch, sitting down and turning the child around so he was halfway facing Felix and halfway still curled up against Minho's chest.
"He spoke English a bit earlier, and I think he has an Australian accent. Can you ask for his name?"
"Okay, hyung." He crouched down in front of Minho and smiled at the child. "Hi, my name is Felix. What's yours?"
"Felix?"
"Yup, that's me," Felix nodded with a bright smile, but Minho could see confusion written all over his face.
The child said something that could be "Chris" but the lisp around the r made it hard to tell.
Felix continued nodding slowly, his face still that of sheer confusion. "Chris, is that right?" he asked.
The child — Chris — nodded slightly, probably shy, and turned back into Minho's chest to hide his face.
Felix looked up at Minho and blinked his eyes several times, clearly at a loss for words. Minho could just shrug his shoulders.
"Chan?" Felix eventually managed.
To both of their surprise, Chris looked up, having clearly responded to the name. "Chan," he repeated, pointing to himself.
"Is that also your name?" Minho asked, almost afraid of the answer.
Chris nodded.
"What if…"
Minho nodded. "Go tell the others."
Minho leaned back against the couch, unable to do anything. It would explain why Chan was nowhere to be found, at the very least. But at the same time, how could he possible suddenly be a child around two or three years old?
"Minho, is that a child?"
Minho turned around to see their manager, looking at him with both badly concealed exasperation and confusion. Minho couldn't really blame him — he'd had to deal with a lot of their messes, but this surely had to take the cake.
"Yes, his name is Chris."
Their manager opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it and shook his head. "Later. I need more coffee first."
"Changbin is brewing some right now."
"Thanks, Minho," their manager said and patted Minho's shoulder as he passed.
"Now, I really did not think I would need to have this conversation with you," their manager said, sitting down opposite Minho, who had moved back into the kitchen. "You cannot have relationships. Not now, and not back when you were a trainee. How old is he? Two, three years?"
"It's not like that," Minho protested, for the nth time that morning. "He's not my child — we think it's actually Chan-hyung."
Their manager stared at him for a few long seconds, before turning to Changbin and asking, "Chanbin, can I have more coffee?"
"Absolutely, hyung-nim."
When he had gotten his mug refilled, he turned back to Minho. "How can you be so sure?"
"His name is both Chris and Chan, and we can't find Chan-hyung anywhere."
"I looked by the door," Felix chimed in, "and his shoes are still there."
"If he is Chan," Jisung said, "wouldn't he recognize his mom? We can show him a photo."
"Good idea!" Hyunjin exclaimed, ever excited, and dove for his phone. "I have one right here!"
Minho didn't even have time to protest that maybe they should take it a little slower, to not overwhelm Chan, before Hyunjin was holding up his phone in Chan's face.
The little boy looked at the photo for some very quiet moments where everyone held their breaths, before, just as Minho had feared, breaking out into sobs with a, "Mommy!"
"I think maybe that was a bad idea," Felix said, voicing Minho's own thoughts while trying desperately to sooth him. "I remember that he talked about how he used to have anxiety when he was younger, and he couldn't even talk to strangers when his mom was there. And we're all basically strangers to him right now, even if we know him."
"But then how come he seems to like Minho-hyung?" Hyunjin asked around a bite of food.
"Maybe," Minho said through gritted teeth, "it's because I'm the first one he saw, and he needs some form of safety in this situation."
All the boys fell silent, going back to their food.
"Well, here's what we're going to do," their manager said after several moments where the only sounds where Chan's crying. "You lot will finish breakfast and then we will get going to work and practise. Minho, you still need to rest your thigh so you will stay here with Chan."
Minho whirled around from where he had been pacing back and forth in an effort to calm Chan. "Why?! It's not that bad and I have come to practise every other day! They still need my help even if I can't join myself!"
"Someone needs to look after Chan," their manager protested, "and you seem to be the only one he will tolerate right now."
"He can come to."
"Are you out of your mind?"
Minho narrowed his eyes and glared at Seungmin. "Watch your mouth, I'm still your hyung."
"You won't change your mind, will you?" their manager sighed. "Fine, I'll drive the rest to the company and then come back to get you. He will need a carseat, and shoes and a jacket — I have some that my daughter has grown out of that I think might fit him. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry." He really was sorry that he put their manager through all this trouble, but he would go crazy if he were to be alone all day with tiny child Chan. Their strong and trustworthy leader, not more than a mere helpless child? Minho would lose it before the day was over, he was sure.
Their manager came back a little while after having gone to drop of the rest. In the meantime, Minho had panicked and tried to figure out a solution when Chan had said he needed to go to the toilet. Well, after he had figured out that Chan was asking in English, not gibberish Korean.
"Everything go okay?" their manager asked and dropped down a bag of things on the floor.
"As good as it could go," Minho muttered.
Their manager looked at him quizzically, but Minho didn't feel like elaborating. He just hoped Chan wouldn't have much memory of this when they finally figured out how to get him back to his real age.
"I have shoes and a jacket for him, so we can get going whenever you're ready."
Chan was actually a little helpful putting the jacket on — a white one with purple flowers, the first time Minho had seen Chan in clothes that weren't black when no stylist had been involved — and the shoes were easy to just have him step into. All the while he was hesitant towards their manager, keeping closer to Minho. But he would have to get used to him — Minho couldn't exactly be seen walking into the company building with a child, even if their manager was there.
Chan reluctantly took their managers hand when they got to the company, but only after Minho had told him he wasn't going anywhere. Still, Minho could see him shaking, his eyes shinier than just moments before. It made him want to fight someone, to have a physical manifestation of Chan's anxiety that he could just force away. He knew it wasn't that simple though.
They had decided on the way over to test Chan's fingerprint at the turnstile, to really confirm that the child really was Chan. And yet Minho could only blink when it beeped open for him. It really was their leader.
"Guess that confirms it," their manager said, voice solemn, and beeped himself through. "I'll go see if I can figure something out, you know where to find me if you need anything."
"Okay, thank you, hyung-nim."
"We're here," Minho announced when he opened the door to the practice room. Changbin and Jisung wasn't there, but the rest were there warming up.
Felix, the only one turned towards the door, was first to see them. He gasped and scrambled forward, falling when he didn't realise he was close to a split. "He's so cute!"
Minho shook his head, not in the least surprised by his antics. "Please don't overwhelm Chan again."
"You're not calling him hyung!" Hyunjin gasped.
Minho raised an eyebrow, pointed his hand towards where Chan was hiding behind his legs and asked, "Can you really blame me?"
"Don't let Chan know that."
"So long as you're not gonna be a snitch, Seungmin," Minho said, his eyes narrowed. "Plus, you didn't call him hyung right now."
"Well, as you said," Seungmin said and motioned towards Chan.
"Get back to your warm ups, we have a lot to do." Minho took a seat in the chair put there for him to survey practise, and the rest went back to their warm ups. Chan went to explore the room, tiny hands reaching out for anything he could. Minho found himself watching him instead of the others, getting lost in how … almost carefree he seemed. There wasn't any trace of the usual stress that seemed to be tied to him. Maybe this whole thing had something good to it too?
Minho frowned, however, when Chan walked a little too close to the others and Jeongin, not having noticed, spun around, suddenly appearing right in front of Chan's face. Chan stopped — and for a very long moment Minho held his breath — before his wails where promptly back again as he fell to his butt. There was that anxiety that grown up Chan had overcome.
Minho hurried over to his side and picked him up, despite how the motions and Chan's weight made the injury to his thigh remind him it was still there. Without a single wince — he really couldn't worry them as the current oldest of their group — he walked back to the chair and slumped down, gently rocking Chan to calm him down. He had no idea how to actually handle kids, so if this whole thing could be solved soon he would be very grateful.
Chan fell asleep some time later, his face nestled against Minho's neck. When he was sure he wouldn't wake up, Minho took him over to the couch to lay him down. He took a seat himself, letting his hand card through curly locks of hair. It was silky smooth, not rough and damaged from constant bleaching and colouring, like grown up Chan's hair. Not that Minho had touched it much. Chan never really let himself rest like this, to have Minho take care of him even for a few minutes. Maybe he should try to force it more when they had Chan back to his right age?
Chan slept through their manager bringing food, lunch for them and a meal he said would be good for Chan. It at least didn't need heating, so Minho helped him eat when he eventually did wake up.
Later that day, after hours of looking after a child version of Chan with widely varying moods, and several bathroom visits Minho hoped both of them would forget for the sake of Chan's dignity and Minho's future survival, Minho decided that they would call it a day early. He'd had way too much all day while still only sitting around, feeling exhaustion tearing at him.
He hoped for all of their sakes that they would get their Chan back soon.
"We'll go collect Jisung and Changbin, then head back to the dorm," Minho told them. "After that I'm ready to sleep for like all the hours."
He was pretty sure someone snickered at him, probably Seubgmin, but elected to ignore it. For now, at least.
"C'mon Channie," he said instead, crouching down in front of said boy, "let's go get Sungie and Binnie, then we can go home."
Chan stared up at him with large hopeful eyes. "Mommy?"
Minho felt bad lying to him, but if it would keep him from crying, it was the best he could do. "Later."
Chan had a lot of energy again from having taken another nap not too long ago and wanted to walk. Minho took hold of his hand, though, just in case.
Halfway over to the studio, they turned a corner and almost ran into a group of people, startling Chan. Minho lost his grip on his hand, and Chan promptly ran off the other way.
Minho only had time to briefly see that the group was some of Got7, apologizing with a quick bow for running into them, before heading on after Chan. "Channie, come back here!"
Just after another corner he thankfully found him, stopped by Bambam.
"Oh thank god, there you are," Minho sagged against the wall, trying to catch his breath. He really shouldn't have run that bit, the pangs of pain in his thigh told him, but he couldn't have just left Chan like that.
"Minho-ssi?" Bambam said, looking up from his crouched position next to Chan. Chan who was shaking slightly.
"Hello, sunbaenim," he nodded his head in a half bow, "I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize," Bambam shook his head. "Is your leg okay? I heard about the injury."
Wow, way to make him feel bad, having a senior worried about him. "It's okay, it's not too bad." He slid down the wall so he was sitting on the floor, and held out his arms. "Channie, come here."
"Chan?" Bambam asked with a raised eyebrow as Chan slid over into Minho's lap. "As in Bang Chan? I wouldn't imagine you would name your child after your leader, not at this point in your life."
Minho shook his head, guessing he could tell the truth if Bambam had already guessed it. "No, it's Chan, but we're not sure what happened.”
Bambam tilted his head, a slight frown on his face. "Something like this happened to Yugyeom once."
"How did you fix it?"
"We eventually found it to be some kind of charm a fan had given to him. Our managers took care of it and he turned back that night."
"Do you think…" Minho tightened his arms around Chan, hoping that it could really be that simple.
"Maybe," Bambam smiled. "I'll tell our managers to speak to yours, they should be able to help somehow."
"Thank you so much, sunbaenim," Minho said with a slight bow, as good as he could from his seated position.
"No need, no need," Bambam laughed. "I wanna help little Channie. He's so cute, and like this he can't complain that I say that!"
Jisung and Changbin headed back to the dorm with Minho and Chan, their manager saying he’d go back and get the others right after. Chan wasn’t as helpful getting the jacket and shoes off as that morning, his whole demeanor not as cheerful anymore.
“Has he been like this the whole day?” Jisung asked, eyeing Chan carefully.
“No,” Minho sighed. “But his mood has been extremely varying, he’s probably only tired, though.”
“And no idea how we can get our Chan-hyung back?” Changbin asked.
“Actually,” Minho said, picking up Chan, who had started blinking his eyes rapidly, as if trying not to fall asleep, “I ran into Bambam-sunbaeninm, and he said something similar had happened to Yugyeom-sunbaenim. He promised to tell their managers to talk to ours.
“Thank god!” Jisung threw himself down on the couch. “I want Chan-hyung back. Not that he’s not cute like that, but I prefer the grown up one.”
Minho stared down at Chan. “Me too.” Sure, he was grateful that he’d gotten a day where Chan couldn’t complain about being taken care of, but he’d much rather have the Chan who would be constantly telling him that he was fine on his own and didn’t need anyone to take care of him.
“I’ll go take a nap with him. If the others get home before he wakes up, please tell them to be a little quiet.”
“Will do, hyung,” Jisung and Changbin said at the same time, making Minho smile.
He headed into his room, folding aside the blankets he used to shadow his lower bunk. He had a blanket at the foot of his bed, so he only smoothed out the comforter before laying himself and Chan down, pulling the blanket over them both.
Chan curled up against his side, and promptly fell asleep. Minho had a fleeting moment of wishing grown up Chan could fall asleep that easily too, before he too fell asleep.
Minho woke to the words, "Why are we taking a nap on your bed at 6pm?" spoken right by his ear. Never had he been that happy to be woken by Chan's voice before.
"Oh thank god," Minho breathed out, pressing a kiss against Chan's hair-covered forehead, "you're back."
"Back from where? What are you talking about?"
Minho could only chuckle, and it quickly turned into warm laughter. "I'm sure the kids will love to tell you."
"You're being weird," Chan said and shook his head. "Well, weirder than usual."
"I know," Minho said, bopping Chan's nose and laughing when he tried to follow Minho's finger with his gaze.
"I'll never understand you, huh?"
"Nope."