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Whether or not Minho found himself in this situation due to accidentally clicking and opening Twitter was nobody’s business except his own.
All Minho knows is that his agere Twitter account was starting to become a little more targeted to himself. His hours of scrolling and liking were to thank for that. He sees his mutuals all cuddled up with their caregiver and plushies. Minho beams, deciding that it would be a great idea if he were to do the same thing too!
Jeongin should be home by now as well. Originally, Minho was going to stay big tonight but things happen, plans change and what’s the harm in having a little bit of fun anyway? He deserves to regress after dancing all day, after all, it had been rather tiring.
Deciding to grab his bunny plushie, he grins, giving it a big hug while running his finger over the stain on the ear. He’d been drinking a smoothie the other day when the fabric had dipped into the liquid; there had understandably been a few tears but Jeongin promised he’d get it cleaned as soon as possible.
With a bounce to his step, holding his bunny plush by its ear, Minho skips out towards the living room where Jeongin should be. Lo and behold, his caregiver was sitting on the couch, scrolling through his phone with tired eyes.
It hadn’t just been a long day for Minho, it had been a long day for Jeongin too. It hadn’t quite occurred to little Minho that Jeongin would be sleepy as well. While he thinks over his options, Minho idly stands in the doorway, watching Jeongin throw his head back with a yawn.
“Hyungie should go sleep,” Minho mumbles to nobody but himself. Jeongin always told him he should get some sleep when he’s tired so why wasn’t he following his own advice? If you ask Minho, Jeongin is being silly.
Very silly.
Minho gasps as he comes up with a great idea, he would just have to pretend to be big. With any luck, he might be able to get Jeongin to go to bed. If that doesn’t work, Minho would just have to make sure Jeongin feels relaxed.
Forgetting that he’s holding the plushie, Minho confidently strolls into the room fixing the state of the cushions on the couch. Jeongin does it all the time, it must be a big thing then!
“Hyung, I thought you were sleeping?” Minho grimaces at the Hyung but he pushes it aside, quickly replacing his expression with a smile.
He shakes his head, plopping down on the couch with the bunny in his lap. Minho follows Jeongin’s eyes down to the pink fur, his eyes widened as he realises he's already messed up.
“I uh-” Minho stumbles, clearing his throat, “Wanted to clean it,” He explains, gesturing down to the stain on the crusty ear.
Jeongin hums, holding his hand out, “There’s a load in there waiting to come out, I’ll do it in the morning,”
This won’t do.
Minho pouts, shaking his head, “I’ll do it,” He claims, shuffling towards the washing machine that was located within the kitchen.
From the couch, Jeongin watches Minho disappear around the corner, almost tripping up on his fluffy socks.
“Why have you got fluffy socks on?” Jeongin asks but his voice fades away as Minho grows further away. Minho never wore his fluffy socks when he wasn’t in his headspace.
Minho didn’t think this through.
How does this machine function? What’s he supposed to do with all the white clothes already inside? What does the red button do?
“Min will move them,” Minho whispers to the white clothes, picking up one sock at a time and starting a pile about 5 centimetres away from the machine. In his defence, Minho thought his organisational skills here were exquisite.
When it came to actually wash his beloved plush, he started regretting not handing it over to Jeongin. At least that way he wouldn’t be staring at all these bottles and capsules with half a brain cell trying to figure out what they do.
He decides that it’s irrelevant, all he needs is water and bubbles.
Gently placing his bunny in the machine, he grabs some washing up liquid and pours it graciously inside. That would work just fine. After clicking a few buttons, the machine started filling with water and Minho claimed that as a victory.
“I’m going to make some tea, want one?” Jeongin offers, leaving his space on the couch which Minho immediately took.
“Min-” Coughing to cover his mistake, Jeongin quirks an eyebrow, “Juice please,” Minho blushes, hoping that Jeongin hadn’t heard his mistake.
Jeongin slowly nods, lingering for a second too long for it to be natural before leaving the room. He could have sworn something was up with Minho tonight, he was acting…Different. From what he’s seeing, it’s almost as if he’s little but he isn’t. He can’t be, not when he’s behaving as if he's big.
“What the…” Jeongin pauses as he looks down at a stack of white socks and shirts on the floor. Minho made a scene when his black hoodie touched the floor, let alone white clothes. Maybe he started a task and forgot about them? Highly unlikely.
By the time Jeongin arrived back in the front room with Minho’s juice and his own tea, Minho was cuddled up to one of the couch’s cushions. He looked simply adorable.
“Scooch over,” Jeongin smiles, squeezing himself back into his spot, “You seem awfully soft today Hyung,” He points out, making sure to carefully examine Minho’s reaction but he gave nothing away.
Maybe he really was just extra soft tonight, he doesn’t always have to be little to act soft. Though Jeongin hadn’t ever witnessed it before.
Wrapping an arm around his boyfriend, Jeongin manoeuvres them until they’re both comfy and laying down on the couch. Minho happily obliges, grabbing onto Jeongin’s hand. He stares at the silver rings that adorned his fingers, the pretty diamonds shining under the dim lighting from the lamp beside the two of them.
“Minho,” Jeongin mumbles into the comfortable silence, “Are you feeling alright?”
Minho blinks up at him just like he did when he was in his headspace, “I’m okay. Tv?” He asks, changing the subject awfully quickly. Despite acting a little odd, Minho genuinely did seem to be fine.
He was probably just sleepy and anyways, even if he was behaving as little Minho did, it only made sense. After all, it was still Minho.
Minho stares at the remote for a moment before awkwardly clicking on the big red button which lit up the screen onto a familiar paranormal programme that they occasionally watch in the evenings.
“Are you sure you want to watch this today?” Jeongin checks, if his suspicions are correct, Minho would much rather watch something a bit more relaxed rather than ghosts and flying plates.
Minho firmly nods, “Want to watch this,” He whispers, pointing at the screen. Jeongin doesn’t push any further, Minho seems sure of himself. Besides, he loves this programme so it only made sense that he’d want to watch it.
It troubled Jeongin a bit but there wasn’t much he could do. It had been a long day, maybe he was just overthinking. There were only so many times he could ask Minho if he was okay before he got annoyed at all the questions.
On the other hand, Minho thinks he’s doing great.
Jeongin isn’t suspicious at all!
He had no idea what they were watching but Jeongin said it might be too scary if he’s not feeling up for it which means big Minho must love this!
It was only ten minutes into the programme when Minho found that yes, this was way too scary for him. With each second that passed, with each jumpscare that lit up the screen and with each flicker of the overhead lights, Minho found himself clinging onto Jeongin’s arm.
“Hyungie off!” He cried, clutching tighter where he hid his head in the crevice between where his arm laid on his hip. Immediately, Jeongin switched the tv off, wrapping both of his arms around Minho.
“I’ve got you, baby, it’s okay,” Jeongin hushes while flicking through the channels until he landed on one Minho would enjoy and, by luck, distract him.
Until Minho stopped crying, Jeongin held him in his arms, singing a lullaby while stroking his fingers lightly through his hair. It wasn’t often Minho cried, he was the definition of sunshine, bright and joyous all day long.
“Min don’ like it,”
Jeongin nods, hugging him closer, “I know, I know,” He soothes, “Why didn’ you tell me you were small sweetheart?”
Minho wipes the tears off his cheeks, looking away when Jeongin looked down at him, “Wan’ed Innie to sleepy, not to look after Min” He admits, shyly grabbing ahold of Jeongin’s hands again to fiddle with his rings.
“Baby,” Jeongin frowns, “Looking after you isn’t exhausting at all, it’s one of the best parts of my day,”
Minho doesn’t seem so convinced, Jeongin was tired and wasn’t sleeping because he was crying. This wasn’t fair, this is why he had to be big!
“Sunshine, you don’t need to pretend to be big,” Jeongin explains that he’d rather Minho be safe and happy while little. “It’s not your fault that I’m not sleeping angel, Innie just wanted to stay up a little later,”
“Innie sure?”
Jeongin nods, ruffling Minho’s hair, “I’m sure, baby, how about we get some sleep now, hm?”
He’s sure Minho might wake up in a few hours with a nightmare but it didn’t mean it was going to happen. He could be proven wrong.
Minho had said once before that when he cuddled with Jeongin, his nightmares seemed to fade off into the distance like his own safety blanket.
“Cuddles too?”
Jeongin beams, picking Minho up, “Of course,”
Always cuddles.
~
Later that night, Minho did wake up from a nightmare.
It was dark, nothing could be heard whatsoever. Minho doesn’t know if he’d rather have the found of birds chirping outside or even just raindrops to supply some sort of noise in the otherwise silent room.
Jeongin laid beside him, completely knocked out while Minho sat up, clutching the bedsheets with trembling hands. He felt weird, he was neither little nor big. He found himself hovering somewhere in between.
Little him was shaking in fear, visions of his dream and the paranormal programme that was on earlier plagued his mind but, on the other hand, big Minho knew it was just a silly nightmare and it wasn’t worth panicking over.
Though all his reasoning was thrown out the window when he heard Jeongin stirring beside him.
He groans into his pillow, rubbing at his eyes, “Minho, why are you awake?” Jeongin yawns, completely oblivious to Minho shaking beside him until he feels two arms weave around his waist to tightly clutch onto him.
He flicks the bedside lamp on, letting their bedroom illuminate in a dim amber glow, showing the troubled expression on Minho’s face.
“Come here, it’s okay,” Jeongin hushes, holding Minho through his brief crying session, “I’ve got you kitten, Hyungie’s got you,”
It didn’t matter how many nights Jeongin would have to wake up at 2 AM and hold Minho until he fell back asleep, he would do it 100 times and another thousand. It’s not something he talks about a lot, it was embarrassing for the most part just how much love he felt for his little. But big Minho too, he was a sucker for both.
He was simply too far gone for Lee Minho and it showed.
Oh well, if it meant he could spend nights snuggled up with Minho, singing him to sleep or reading him a book they’d bought in the local charity shop on a cold winter’s night, Jeongin would do it over and over again.
Minho was a magnet and damn, Jeongin would be pulled in again and again and again.
It wasn’t only Jeongin who felt that way, Minho had a few thoughts of his own too.
Truly unbreakable.