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To anyone else, it was a normal thing to see.
But to the seven boys who were staring down at the bed in shock, it was far from normal. There laying fast asleep on the bed was Chan which wasn’t too shocking if it wasn’t for the fact he’d been sleeping for 10 hours straight. Now that was odd, Jeongin had taken notice of the plushie tucked away under his arm and came to a conclusion.
“I think he’s little, look,” He whispers pointing at the teddy bear causing a chain reaction of gasps and coos, they all tiptoe out of the room leaving the door ajar before completely losing their minds. It wasn’t often Chan was little, the last time had been way over a month and even then it had only been for an hour or so. Not only that, his headspace was usually very unpredictable, one day he could be around 5 and the next 2.
Judging by the plushie, he was feeling a bit younger today.
Everyone busied themselves while waiting for the boy to wake up, Changbin decided to go to the gym with Jeongin, Seungmin started reading a new book while Jisung fell back asleep on the couch beside him. The others just loitered around doing odd jobs occasionally checking in on Chan just to him sleeping in a different position no closer to waking up.
It was only when Felix had put his hands into the mixture of the cake batter he was making that loud wails could be heard through the dorm. Minho and Hyunjin stand up jogging over to the bedroom, they push the door open watching as the little immediately stops crying at the sight of two of his caregivers coming closer to him.
“Hey baby, how’s our little prince doing?” Minho soothes him pulling him onto his lap before Chan would start crying again, Hyunjin sends a quick text to Seungmin asking him to run the bath so it would mean less waiting around when hugging time ended and bathtime began.
Chan didn’t answer Minho’s question, in fact, he didn’t even show any signs of understanding the question and just snuggled closer. Hyunjin’s jaw drops as Chan opens his mouth chewing the fabric of Minho’s shirt, much like the younger, the man furrows his eyebrows in utter confusion.
“Hyung, I think he’s going to cry if you take it away from him,” Hyunjin lightly warns, as much as the other hates to admit it, he was right. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t much of an alternative, the shirt was getting wetter by the minute with Chan’s saliva and he really couldn’t stand the feeling of it for much longer. His eyes scan the room remembering Chan owned pacifiers but the only issue was, nobody knew where they were.
It appears that the little had fallen back asleep, with one movement from Minho, he’d be wide awake again.
“I know,” Minho huffs, “Doesn’t he have pacifiers somewhere in here?” He questions remembering the last time Chan was little, he’d already had the item in hand before regressing.
Hyunjin shrugs gently moving off the bed to rummage through the drawers, to his surprise, there idly sitting in the far right-hand corner was a baby blue pacifier. He picks up flashing the object at Minho who lets out a breath, the sound of water had long stopped meaning that the bath would be ready by now.
Hyunjin sits down on the edge of the bed again, running his fingers through Chan’s hair watching the way his eyes open up, mouth no longer around the shirt but now sucking on his comforter and he was far more than okay with that.
Seungmin trails in subtly smiling at the scene before his eyes, “Does Channie want to get a bath now?” He rhetorically asks, moving forwards to pick the little up who had already begun whining for Seungmin. Chan never minded bathtime, in fact, he rather enjoyed it. In the rare cases that he was little, they always preferred to get him a bath in the morning rather than the night since, from their experience, Chan could get a bit moody being taken away from the tv or playing with whatever it was.
Another bonus for bathtime was that when Jeongin had gone back home a few months ago to visit, he’d found a load of his childhood bath toys which he’d brought back for the little to enjoy, sure there always seemed to be a lot of plashing and water outside of the tub rather than inside but nobody minded too much.
Today, Chan wasn’t splashing about so much which Seungmin was ever so thankful for. He always made sure to get dressed for the day ahead after Chan’s bath given he always ended up soaked head to toe. The bubbles floating on top of the water fascinated Chan who kept poking them and blinking when they popped.
Seungmin chuckled quietly, “They’re bubbles sweetheart,” Chan looked up at him opening his mouth but no words came out just a slight gurgle behind the pacifier he’d refused to take out. Washing his hair was surprisingly easy too, Seungmin recalls the time that the tiniest slither of shampoo had slid into his eye and no amount of time could have prepared him for the mass load of tears and screaming that followed. The younger notices the way Chan hadn’t said anything, he doesn’t know if he’d spoken to Minho or Hyunjin but he doubts it. Part of him thinks he could be in babyspace but, then again, he wasn’t even sure if Chan had a babyspace.
Felix comes skipping in waving happily at Chan, “Seungmin, how much longer?” He questions in a hushed voice, Felix often got Chan dressed after a discussion over roles. Due to Felix’s eye for clothing, he’d been out in charge of dressing Chan and the cute clothing outcome was always worth it. At times he found it difficult with the lack of colour in Chan’s wardrobe but he managed.
Seungmin shrugs, “Ask the prince,” He says a little louder than necessary alerting Chan of the new presence in the room, he gasps a big smile showing his dimples.
He ends up dressed in black shorts and Jisung’s pink hoodie that he bought a good few weeks ago, it was warm, fluffy and had a logo of a small white rabbit making the little appreciate it even more. Felix brings him into the front room wondering what they could possibly do today with Chan, it seems that breakfast was in progress of being made but other than that, he wasn’t too sure. The weather was alright, not hot but not cold. They could take him out, there was a park around the corner, swings, slide and roundabout. The only issue with that was being caught, Felix would hate to think what the company would do, going out was out of the question.
Sensing his inner turmoil, Changbin, who had just gotten back, sits down next to him letting Chan wrap around him.
“What’s on your mind, you look...Troubled,” Changbin mutters not really knowing the right words.
Felix sighs, “There’s nothing to do,” He whines sounding like a bored child, “I can’t think of a single thing that he would want to do,” Changbin nods, his eyes looking down at the little who was content playing with the toggles on his hoodie.
“Lix, he seems pretty happy just being here,” He says while brushing the hair out of Chan’s eyes, “He’ll probably be sleeping again in an hour,” Changbin muses knowing Chan’s habits and while in a younger headspace he’d be needing a nap at some point.
Felix takes in the words, “That’s true,” He admits, “Do you think he’ll really be happy with just lounging around?”
Changbin hums, “I’m sure he’ll make it known if not,” They both laugh confusing Chan who tilted his head at the sound.
Lounging around did actually become the reality. Jisung laid with Chan for a good two hours watching an animal documentary rather than a cartoon, Chan’s choice not Jisung’s.
“Look bub, what’s that?” Jisung points at a fox on the screen which was running across the land at a quick pace. Chan lifts his head up making eye contact with Jeongin, he points over to the younger bouncing in his spot.
“Is Innie a fox sweetie?” Jisung giggles, Chan rapidly nods resulting in Jeongin giving one too many compliments. Despite not talking much today, Chan had his way of communicating usually through gestures and expressions.
Jeongin slides in the spot next to Jisung and Chan taking, Jisung would say stealing, the little. They find themselves playing a game on the maknae’s phone, Jeongin had fallen asleep but Chan continued playing on his phone. He clicks something making the game turn off, a variety of apps stared back at him, he taps on a colourful looking one. A contact name shows up meaning nothing to Chan, he clicks on a long list of numbers, a phone number, and giggled at the ringing sound.
When the sound of Changbin’s voice came through the speaker, Chan gasps squealing and clapping his hands. Changbin shuffles out of his bedroom and back to the couch where he watches Chan holding Jeongin’s phone with two hands being careful not to drop it, it was adorable the way his bright eyes were searching for the sound of Changbin’s voice. Humouring himself, he walks a little further away but still in eyeshot of Chan and says a few words.
“Binnie!” He cheers his first words of the day jolting Jeongin awake from the sudden exclamation.
“Channie sweetheart what’re you- Oh, Hyung,” He yawns seeing Changbin’s name across the screen completely missing the figure in the doorway. He hangs up the phone making Chan frown but as soon as the rapper suddenly appeared behind him, a huge smile fell on Chan’s face.
Hyunjin and Jisung watch from the sidelines taking photos and quietly whispering things to one another, Changbin was a great caregiver and there had been multiple times where he’d proved that to be a fact. Once when Chan had tripped over, he’d calmed him down in an impressive time, put a plaster on and by a miracle got the little to laugh and ramble on. It wasn’t a skill everyone had.
If anything, today proved that Chan was more than happy to do nothing as long as he was in the arms of one of his seven caregivers. The morning with Minho and Hyunjin was full of hugs, bathtime with Seungmin resulted in a load of squeals and giggles, Felix had sat and sung him some nursery rhymes while getting him dressed, Changbin made him excited with the use of a phone call, Jisung and Jeongin allowed him to use their bodies as a human pillow and he was forever grateful. He couldn’t ask for anything more.
In the morning when he wouldn’t be little, he’d feel a fair bit embarrassed but a lot more relaxed and smiley. No matter how many times he slipped, it didn’t matter how often or for how long, he always came out of the experience with newfound respect.
But, for now, Chan was comfortable being sprawled across Minho, Jisung and Seungmin’s lap and his head resting on Hyunjin’s thighs. Even if their legs grew numb and dead soon, they’d stay like this until Chan moved.
“Channie love,” Hyunjin sings, “Would you like some cookies?”
Yeah, Chan was happy being smothered with attention and the mention of cookies just make everything that extra bit special.
That night, everyone fell asleep in a cuddle pile on the floor, it wasn’t too uncomfortable despite eight bodies pilled on top of one another. The many blankets on the floor made it better and the quiet singing from the tv put in for a relaxing atmosphere. It was a shame every day couldn’t be like this but this way, it made it special that it only happened every now and then.