Chapter Text
Tete clamps his mouth shut and twists his head aside, stubbornly refusing the piece of broccoli that Jimin is holding out to him.
His face is scrunched up and frowning, and he refuses to budge, even when Jimin makes the airplane swooping sounds that normally have him automatically opening his mouth for a bite.
After a few circles around the air, the fork-plane fails to land and Jimin pulls back his hand, sighing.
This is the third day that Tete is refusing to eat his greens (and the third day that he’s been in littlespace, which is a first even for Gukkie, their other Little). Previously the longest they had regressed had been two full days and nights, since that was usually the time afforded to them, on their precious weekends.
But right now, they have a rare stretch of a week totally free for the Golden Week holidays. With great excitement, JK and Tae had started planning their own retreat, or LittleCamp, as JK ambitiously dubbed it.
It’s only been a few weeks since Tete came out as Little, and the hyungs have been bending over backwards to make it comfortable for him to regress, after the whole hue and cry over his dramatic reveal.
Thanks to his drastic weight loss and crippling depression during the period he was struggling to figure himself out, everyone had been cautiously trying to get him to eat more. Proper, healthy food as opposed to the junk diet of ramyeon and snacks that he’d eat, if left to his own devices. Tete doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, with some exceptions--he loves hotteok, and nurungji, and strawberry ice cream--but he does love snacks and crisps with a passion. He could eat his body weight in dried squid and shrimp crackers, honey butter chips and salted popcorn; as long as it’s crunchy and salty and savoury, Tae loves it.
But all those snacks are bad for his health, so the hyungs stopped buying and stocking them in the dorm, to his dismay.
Then someone gets the bright idea that Tete should be encouraged to eat more greens. So for the past week, Yoongi has been trying to sneak more veg into their dishes. Subtly at first, then in bigger quantities; and finally, whole serving bowls of salad that Tete makes retching faces at when he thinks no one is looking.
But someone is always looking. And this time, Gukkie sees everything.
And so begins the biggest hurdle of their Little lives so far... the Green Revolt.
🥦
With a secret, conspiratorial tone, Tae murmurs into JK's ear. “Do you know why broccoli look like little trees?”
He draws back and waggles his eyebrows at Gukkie, who stares at him open mouthed and shakes his head.
“That’s cos they are and if you eat them, a tree will grow inside your belly!” Tete claps his hands and draws them apart with a 'whoosh'.
“Tree?? In Gukkie’s tummy??” Horrified, JK clamps his hand over his mouth, like someone is trying to force feed him a bite of broccoli right that second.
Tete nods importantly, schooling his face into a serious expression that says he’s telling the truth and nothing but the truth.
“But-but Gukkie tummy only little! No space for tree! And bear in Gukkie’s tummy dun like trees,” JK babbles, “he likes ‘nana milk!”
“Uh huh. So from today onwards we’re NOT eating any more broccoli, okay?” Tae’s urgent words and serious frown leave a big impression on JK. Solemnly, he nods and offers Tae his pinky, who links it with his own and makes their thumbs touch.
There. Step One.
Now Tete has an ally. Let’s see the hyungs try to make them eat the stupid broccoli again.
🥦
Dinnertime sees them heartily tucking into their meal, until Yoongi tries to spoon some broccoli onto Gukkie's plate. Screwing up his nose in disgust, JK uses his spoon to flick the offending object off his plate. It skitters off the table, right onto the floor.
Next to him Jimin gasps, shocked at his bad behaviour. “Bun! What are you doing! You can’t throw your food on the floor!”
“But Gukkie HATES it!” Unrepentant, the Little scowls and crosses his arms, turning up his nose at the food.
Across the table, Tete smirks and gives him a covert thumbs up. Good job, Gukkie.
Unfortunately for Tae, this time, Hobi is the one looking.
And he doesn't like what he sees, not one bit.
Yoongi sighs and bends over to pick up the rejected food. "Baby, we've talked about this. How many times have I told you, we need to eat everything on our plates? Don't you feel sorry for the farmer who grew this?" He stares at the Little in reproach.
Predictably, JK's bottom lip starts to wobble. Stricken, he glances to Tae for help.
Sensing the need for a distraction, Tete purposely crams an extra large spoonful of rice into his mouth, then proceeds to cough and splutter.
He ends up spraying bits of food onto the table, to the hyungs' dismay. Namjoon rushes to give him his tumbler, and Hobi tuts and pats his back. Tae, who's actually starting to choke for real, clutches his cup and gulps at the water until he spills it all down his front.
Whining, he gives a sad, beseeching look to his caregiver Joon, who hurriedly takes away his plate, saying Tete doesn't have to force himself to eat any more.
When Namjoon turns to put the plate in the sink, Tete looks at JK and shoots him a sneaky wink.
As he wipes the table clean, Hobi catches the smug look on the Little's face and gives a long, inward sigh.
Looks like the battle is on, with more than one naughty boy to keep in line.
🥦
The next tussle comes over an unexpected enemy - a fruit.
Concerned that two boys hadn’t gotten enough to eat, Jimin decides to bring them a night snack. The Littles are busying themselves, playing in the living room after dinner. Tete is sprawled on the floor, methodically filling in one of JK’s superhero colouring books (this one had less than half the pages left, so Jungkookie generously gave it to him. Besides, Hobi hyung already bought a new colouring book filled with safari animals that JK couldn’t wait to scribble in.)
Hobi and Yoongi are also in the living room, with some American variety show on TV that Yoongi is half-heartedly watching while making snide remarks that makes Hobi fall over himself laughing. Jimin knows that Yoongi is trying to familiarise himself with more conversational English before he embarks on his world tour, and he's proud of his hyung for putting in the effort. Seeing the two good friends spend time together makes him smile.
With the bowl in his hand, Jimin sits down between Tae and JK, admiring the half-finished picture of Wonder Woman that Tae is laboriously colouring, tongue sticking out as he scrupulously keeps within the lines. Meanwhile, JK has a handful of slime that he's smooshing all over a toy car.
“What’re you playing with, bun?” he asks fondly.
“Mimi! Loooook, swamp monster eat the people! Spiderman to the rescue!” Gukkie growls and makes slobbering sounds as he uses his action figure to attack the slime, pretending to fight off the monster.
Chuckling, Jimin watches patiently as he gets the sticky stuff out from the car. Of course Spiderman is now covered in the green gloop, as are JK’s hands, and Jimin winces, anticipating the struggle to clean both the boy and his toys. Setting the bowl aside, he snags a wet wipe from the jumbo pack on the coffee table.
“Wow, looks like Spiderman won! That’s amazing, Gukkie. Now come here baby, show me your hands."
Obediently, JK drops the toys and holds out his sticky hands, letting Jimin wipe the remnants of slime from his fingers. He makes a face at the damp feeling it leaves behind, but stays still until Jimin finishes cleaning his hands.
“Good boy, all clean now. Here, have a snack,” Jimin praises, reaching for the bowl and showing it to Gukkie. Inside the little yellow duck-printed bowl is some bananas that Jimin had cut up into slices and sprinkled with chopped nuts. Gukkie goes ‘oooh’ and uses the plastic fork to stab a couple of slices, popping them into his mouth.
He makes it about halfway through the bowl before Tete perks up and looks over. Sitting up, he cranes his neck to look into the bowl before his eyes flick up to stare at JK, who freezes with the fork hovering in front of his lips.
“What’s that?” Tete asks loudly, narrowing his eyes. “Is it ice cream?”
“Gukkie can’t have ice cream this late,” Yoongi chimes in from the couch. As expected, JK’s papa has sharp ears when it comes to his Little.
“Don’t be silly, hyung. I won’t give him that without asking you,” Jimin rolls his eyes.
Sometimes the two of them squabble just like Tom and Jerry, especially when it comes to Jungkookie. Jimin is just as protective as before, when he was the only one to know JK’s secret before he came out as a Little. And Yoongi tends to butt heads with him when it comes to discipline, since Jimin hardly ever wants to see JK being punished or scolded.
While the two hyungs trade barbed lines, Tete sidles closer to JK.
“Are you a monkey? Cos only monkeys eat ‘nanas, Gukkie,” he whispers into his ear. Tete sits back and watches the boy blanch, then drop his fork back into his bowl, pouting.
Smiling, he gives a nod of approval before turning back to his colouring book, humming a happy little tune.
Not surprisingly, the rest of the fruit goes uneaten. Jungkookie starts asking for banana milk instead and when Yoongi firmly says no, he throws a tantrum, howling that ‘nanas are yucky and he’s not a monkey!' Yoongi says he’s being very much like one now and threatens to put him in the thinking corner, which makes Jimin snap, until everyone gets shushed by Hobi exclaiming he can’t hear the TV over their racket.
Jimin stomps off to the kitchen and Yoongi makes JK come with him for an early bath, whining because he lost his playtime privileges for the night.
Finally the living room is quiet, save for Tete who is still peacefully colouring away. Behind him, Hoseok, who had seen everything, shakes his head and sighs.
Strike two, Tete.
🥦
When JK is finally tucked into bed after a lot of fussing, he makes puppy eyes at Yoongi to ask for a story. He gives in with a sigh, fetching one of the several Marvel comics that have found their way into JK's shelves. (None of the other hyungs would admit who keeps buying more comics for the Little, although Yoongi strongly suspects Jimin or Hoseok to be the main culprit.)
Gukkie is tuckered out and dozing before Yoongi finishes the chapter. When Jimin pops his head in, he coos at the sight, before hesitantly stepping inside. Without looking at Yoongi, he sits at the bedside and gives Gukkie a soft goodnight kiss, smiling and brushing the floppy fringe from his forehead.
Yoongi gets up to place the comic back on the shelf. "Sorry for yelling just now," he says gruffly, pretending to tidy the books so he doesn't have to meet Jimin's eyes.
Jimin softens, reaching out to catch hold of Yoongi's wrist. "It's ok, hyung. I don't know what came over Jungkookie today. It's not like him, he's usually such a good boy." Jimin slips his hand into Yoongi's, giving it a little squeeze. "And you're doing a great job as his caregiver, hyung. You really are."
Yoongi finally meets his gaze, giving him a tentative smile. "Thanks, Jimin-ah. Sometimes I feel like I don't do enough for him; for both of them. It's gotten easier, but I still worry you know. If I'm being a good enough hyung and caregiver. And it really helps, having you around."
Embarrassed, he ducks his head and tries to pull his hand away. Jimin simply laughs and pulls him into a hug instead, careful not to jolt the bed and wake the sleeping boy.
"Do you want me to sleep here tonight? I can take over, you can go get some proper rest in your room. Gukkie might get up super early, since it's just past ten now." Jimin offers the best olive branch he could think of.
"You sure? Maybe that's better... you'll have more space too, then maybe you won't wake up black and blue when he kicks you in his sleep." Yoongi grins.
Laughing quietly, Jimin shoos him out from the room. Then he slips into the bed next to Jungkookie, who turns and snuffles into the pillows before burrowing under the covers, flinging an arm over Jimin's middle. Absently patting him back to sleep, Jimin settles back against the headboard to scroll on his phone for a while as he usually does before bed.
Pretty soon his eyes grow heavy, then he too falls asleep. And Jimin doesn't know it yet, but it will be the last peaceful night's sleep he will have for the rest of the week.
🥦