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Yoongi's eyes popped open and squinted at the early morning sunshine streaming through his bedroom. He curled up in the blankets, rubbing his face against them for a moment; they were soft and warm and felt just the best. He'd been feeling so little last night that his caregiver Taehyung had read him a bedtime story and tucked him in tightly in the blankets. Yoongi smiled thinking of the memory; his heart felt warm inside him. He still felt little; it was unusual for him to be little this long but he wasn't complaining; a burst of excitement and happiness went through him. He wanted to go find TaeTae immediately; he could make him some breakfast and then they could play!
Yoongi pushed the blankets off him and jumped out of bed. He was still in his Spiderman undies and Pokemon shirt from his little time yesterday and he didn't see any reason to change. He bounced down the hallway toward TaeTae's room. He pushed the door open but saw that he was still asleep. A quick check at the other rooms showed that everyone was still asleep. He felt a little sad at that; it was too quiet and lonely without the others. And then his tummy rumbled; he was so hungry he didn't want to wait on everyone else. He was little but he wasn't that little; surely he could get some cereal without making too much of a mess.
Yes, he was little but he was still kind of a big boy; he'd take care of himself! Wouldn't TaeTae be proud of him when he woke up and saw he'd gotten his own breakfast?
Yoongi hopped down the hallway toward the kitchen and was almost there when his bladder gave a twinge and he had to squeeze his legs together. He'd almost forgotten to use the bathroom after the long night asleep. TaeTae sure wouldn't have thought he was a big boy if he wet his pants! Yoongi rushed to the bathroom and got to the potty just in time. He got a little distracted as he washed his hands; the soap made bubbles as he lathered his hands. He blew on them and bubbles floated across the bathroom making Yoongi giggle happily. When his stomach rumbled again he remembered breakfast, rinsing off his hands and hopping down the hall to the kitchen.
Yoongi got his favorite kind of cereal out of the cabinet and then went to get a bowl. He had to dig through the cabinets a bit to find his favorite blue bowl that had kitties on it. It was way in the back and Yoongi climbed up on the counter to reach it better. He wasn't supposed to climb on the counters; TaeTae told him he might fall. But he did it now so TaeTae could sleep longer and besides he knew he wouldn't fall. He was super careful, reaching behind the other dishes and using one hand to hold on so he didn't fall backwards. When he grabbed the kitty bowl, he ever so gently climbed down, doing his best to be careful.
And he didn't fall…..but something else happened. He had one foot down on the floor and was reaching the other down when it hit something. Yoongi heard a loud crash against the floor that made him jump. He hopped off the counter and spun around to see what the noise was. His heart sunk immediately; he was so upset he almost dropped his kitty bowl. He set it on the counter and sunk down to the floor. Smashed into about a hundred pieces was TaeTae's favorite coffee mug.
"Oh no….no!" Yoongi said as he crouched down next to the shattered pieces of ceramic. It was TaeTae's favorite mug; he used it every single day and now Yoongi had broken it. He wanted to fix it but he could already tell there were too many pieces to fix it.
Tears welled up in Yoongi's eyes as he thought about how mad TaeTae was going to be at him when he saw he'd broken it. He stuck his thumb in his mouth, suddenly not feeling like a big boy at all; he felt much smaller. He wanted to run to TaeTae for comfort while at the same time he wanted to run and hide. He'd only broken TaeTae's mug because he was climbing on the counters like he wasn't supposed to. TaeTae was going to punish him for sure.
Unless…..
Yoongi wiped the tears the away from his eyes and pulled his thumb out of his mouth. He had to get rid of the evidence. Maybe if he did TaeTae would never find out; he'd just think it was lost and he wouldn't yell at Yoongi.
Yoongi pulled his t-shirt out to make a little pocket with it and began to pick up the broken pieces, trying hard not to cut himself. Any time he was little and broke something TaeTae always insisted on cleaning it up so he didn't hurt himself. The pieces with their sharp edges scared him a little but somehow he managed to pick them all up without hurting himself.
The garbage was almost full so he couldn't throw it in there; it would be right on the top and everyone would be able to see it. Yoongi rushed down the hallway to his room, shutting the door behind him before opening one of his drawers and stuffing the pieces inside where no one would find them. By the time he shut the drawer, he was breathing too hard and his heart felt all pitter patter funny inside his chest. This didn't feel right; this was like lying. And lying was bad. He didn't like it.
Yoongi closed the drawer and left the bedroom, trying to act normal. He tried to force himself to be big; everything wouldn't feel so huge and scary if he was big. But he couldn't make himself be big. If anything, he just kept feeling smaller and smaller.
Yoongi began to walk down hallway; he wasn't hungry anymore but he wanted to be with the others when they woke up and he knew TaeTae wouldn't let him skip breakfast even if he said he wasn't hungry. He felt bad; his stomach felt like it had waves moving inside it. He felt like he had to pee again but when he went to the bathroom his peepee wouldn't do anything so he left, still feeling weird. His armpits were sweating big, grown up amounts of sweat and he didn't like it.
He got his kitty bowl off the counter and slowly poured a little cereal into it, not really wanting to eat. He was extra careful with the milk, not wanting to make another mess. He sat down at the table but mostly just ended up stirring his cereal around and around in the bowl.
The others began to wake up and slowly trickle into the kitchen. They greeted him sleepily and began to make their own breakfast. Finally, TaeTae came into the kitchen, his clothes all rumbled and his hair everywhere. He looked cute and Yoongi wanted to jump into his arms but he didn't; he didn't deserve TaeTae's cuddles right now.
"Awww, still feeling little?" TaeTae asked, noticing Yoongi's clothes and how he played with his cereal. He was smiling so widely, obviously happy Yoongi was little. It made him feel even worse. He just nodded.
It was almost at once that TaeTae looked around the kitchen. "Has anyone seen my mug?" TaeTae was looking in all the cabinets and the sink but it wasn't anywhere. All the others said they hadn't seen it. Yoongi slunk down in his chair. He put his spoon down; he couldn't eat anything. His tummy was all in knots.
"Yoongi, baby, have you seen my mug?" TaeTae asked eventually as he was the only one who hadn't said anything.
"No" Yoongi said at once, shaking his head. He stared down into his bowl, feeling like he could puke. Now he'd not only broken TaeTae's favorite cup, he'd lied about it too. He was a bad, bad boy.
TaeTae couldn't tell Yoongi was about to cry because he wouldn't look at him. TaeTae grabbed another cup for his coffee and sat down at the table next to Yoongi. He held out his arms. "Come here, pumpkin" TaeTae said with a smile, "Sit on my lap and let me feed you."
Yoongi looked over at TaeTae; he'd even gotten Yoongi's sippy cup without his noticing. It probably had his favorite juice in it. He wanted to sit on his lap but he knew he shouldn't; he was a bad boy. He shook his head no, slinking down in the chair.
"Don't be silly" TaeTae insisted, "Are you a grumpy boy today?"
TaeTae said it with a laugh and pulled Yoongi's chair over toward him. He wasn't grumpy but everyone knew how he could be grumpy at times so he decided to just go with it. It was better for everyone to think he was grumpy than know the truth.
"Oh no, we have a grumpy baby!" TaeTae said teasingly, "TaeTae will just have to fix that won't he?"
Yoongi didn't answer; he gave TaeTae his best grumpy face even though he wanted to cry. TaeTae reached over, wrapped his arms around Yoongi and pulled him over into his lap.
Yoongi ended up in TaeTae's lap, facing the table and before he had a chance to get away TaeTae had wrapped his arms around him in a hug. Yoongi let himself enjoy it for a moment before wiggling away. TaeTae gave the best hugs; they were warm and made Yoongi's heart happy. But right now his heart wasn't happy. TaeTae was only hugging him because he didn't know how bad a boy he'd been.
Yoongi wiggled out of TaeTae's hold after a minute and TaeTae let him, laughing at his perceived grumpiness and ruffling his hair. TaeTae held out his sippy cup for him; even held it for him as he drank from it making him feel smaller. It did have his favorite juice in it, sweet and perfect. When TaeTae pulled over his bowl of now soggy cereal, Yoongi scrunched up his face.
"Not hungry!" Yoongi said and tried to turn away from TaeTae as he put the spoon up to his mouth.
"Oh, don't be a grumpy butt" TaeTae said affectionately, "you know you can't skip meals. There's not much cereal here."
Yoongi took the bite, pouting. His tummy hurt and he didn't want to eat.
He took every bite with reluctance feeling like he was going to puke, having a hard time not wiggling on TaeTae's lap.
"Do you need to potty, sweetheart?" TaeTae asked. "You're wiggling a lot."
Yoongi blushed, feeling embarrassed as everyone looked at him. He sometimes had accidents when he was little so TaeTae often reminded him to potty. But he got embarrassed when the others were around when he did it.
"TaeTae!" Yoongi whined, covering his face in embarrassment. "I already went potty!"
"Oh, I'm sorry pumpkin" TaeTae said, knowing he'd embarrassed Yoongi. "What a big boy you are today. You went potty and got your own breakfast."
'And I broke your mug' Yoongi thought sadly as TaeTae hugged him tightly again.
"Can I go play?" Yoongi asked, wiggling away.
"Sure" TaeTae said, letting go of Yoongi who rushed off to the living room to find his toys.
Yoongi didn't feel like doing much. While the others finished breakfast and went about doing grown up things Yoongi quietly colored in his coloring book and watched cartoons. Eventually the others began to trickle into the living room, lazily playing with their phones or reading books, everyone set on having a nice day off.
Yoongi felt bad. His tummy churned and he both wanted to be alone and not be alone at the same time. His hands were all shaky and he kept coloring outside the lines; his pictures looked terrible. Yoongi slammed the coloring book on the floor along with his crayons. One of them broke in half and it just reminded him of TaeTae's cup, broken into a million pieces.
Yoongi was just sitting there pouting when TaeTae came in the room. He had a brand new game in his hand, one Yoongi gad been wanting for a while. TaeTae looked excited.
"Yoongi, I got you surprise" TaeTae said excitedly "I was saving it for your birthday but I thought today might be a good day for a surprise."
"No!" Yoongi said, crossing his arms and pouting. TaeTae was being too nice to him. He was a bad boy; he didn't deserve a surprise!
"Yoongi come on, play with me," TaeTae said, trying not to look hurt by Yoongi's rejection
"No! Stop being nice to me TaeTae!" Yoongi said. His eyes were beginning to fill with tears. His eyes looked all fuzzy from them. He knew he was going to cry but he couldn't! If he did TaeTae would know something was wrong and then he'd know how bad Yoongi was!
"Yoongi, why would you say such a thing?" Tae asked calmly. He looked sad and it made Yoongi more sad. The tears in his eyes began to run down his cheeks. The words exploded out of him like a volcano.
"I don't deserve cuddles or a present!" Yoongi wailed, standing up as tears ran down his face. "I'm a bad, bad boy!"
Yoongi was sobbing now; he looked up and saw everyone looking at him, not just TaeTae. He was so embarrassed he ran out of the room and into his bedroom.
Yoongi slammed the door behind him and flung himself in his bed, burying his face in the pillow and crying so hard it hurt. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in TaeTae's lap, to feel him hug him and play with his hair. But that wasn't going to happen now.
A minute later he herd his door open. He knew it was TaeTae without even looking. He felt the bed dip beside him, felt a hand rubbing his back.
"Yoongi, roll over and look at me so we can talk" TaeTae said softly.
Yoongi wanted to argue but he wasn't a grumpy butt like they all thought he was today and he didn't have the will to fight he rolled over on to his back and looked up at TaeTae who looked concerned.
"Talk to me, please" TaeTae said. "What makes you think you're a bad boy?"
Yoongi started sobbing again; he had to tell TaeTae now. He wasn't going to like him anymore.
"It was me!" Yoongi wailed. "You couldn't find your favorite mug because I broke it! I know I'm not supposed to climb in the counters but I did anyway to get my kitty bowl. I wanted to get breakfast like a big boy but I accidentally knocked over your cup. I hid the pieces so you wouldn't know. Then I lied to you about it. I'm a bad boy!"
Yoongi continued to cry, his cheeks feel red and hot. Now he'd said it and TaeTae was going to be super mad at him. He wasn't a big boy, he wasn't good...
TaeTae was quiet for a minute and then he said, "Well, that explains why my little baby has been so upset today" he said quietly. "Yoongi, look at me please."
Great….. this is where he'd get his punishment. What would he do? What would he say? Yoongi's heart was pitter patter with being scared.
"You know we have rules for a good reason don't you, pumpkin?" TaeTae asked and Yoongi nodded, tears still coursing down his face. "I tell you not to climb on the counters because I don't want you to fall and get hurt. I tell you not to lie to me because if you're not honest with me I can't properly take care of you. If you'd been honest with me earlier I could have told you what I'm going to tell you now."
Yoongi braced for it. What would it be? Having a time out? Getting a spanking? Having his toys taken away?
"Yes, I really liked that mug" TaeTae said, "but it's just a mug. I can replace it. But there's only one Min Yoongi and his happiness is the most important thing to me. We all make mistakes and just because you break a rule doesn't mean you're a bad boy. Come to me, sweetheart" and TaeTae held out his arms for Yoongi.
Wait, he wasn't going to be in trouble? TaeTae still wanted him? Tears were still wet on his face but he could feel a big smile beginning to stretch across his face. He threw himself at TaeTae, straddling his lap so he could wrap his arms and legs tightly around him. He buried his face in TaeTae's shoulder, smelling his wonderful, comforting scent in his nose. "You're not mad at me?" Yoongi asked hesitantly.
"I'm not mad at you" TaeTae assured him. He rubbed Yoongi's back and it felt so perfectly warm and comforting.
Happiness sprang through Yoongi's heart, making him feel like he had sunshine inside him. "I love you TaeTae" he whispered in TaeTae's ear, his fingers coming up to play with the strands of hair curling around his ear.
TaeTae squeezed him tightly. " I love you too sweetheart."