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Minho was busy nibbling his crayons when he noticed a new baby joining their room. He had golden hair and round chubby cheeks that reminded Minho of a potato, a very squishy potato.
But Minho paid the new potato no mind as he's busy drawing his masterpiece that is a squiggly stick figure under an equally squiggly rainbow.
The potato baby meanwhile stared. He had just been plopped onto the playmat, but nothing else in the room existed anymore. Not the colorful toys, not the soft plushies, not even the nanny trying to get him to grab a rattle.
Only one thing mattered now.
The Big One.
The Big One who made colorful things with tiny sticks. The Big One who looked sooo warm and nice like a teddy bear.
"Gagagahga.." he gurgled then launched himself forward.
Minho was too busy with his masterpiece to notice the rapid onslaught of the round potato. And when he noticed, it was too late.
"Wha-" Before he could finish the walking potato (more like crawling but sneaky as a bug) slammed into him.
"Ahhhhh!" Minho fell backward with the new menace on top him, his crayon flying away from his hands. When he looked up, he found the squishy baby eying him like he's a new chew toy.
"Heyyy, get offfff!" Minho wiggled, struggling to get up but the baby squealed in joy.
"Gahgagaga!" The new baby clung to Minho like a tiny koala and decided to attack Minho's round cheek, gobbling or failing to gobble it up. His two iitty bitty teeth trying to chomp but all they managed was to smear his drool on Minho's little face.
"Waaaaa, he's eating meeeee! Tiny beebee eating meee!" Minho flailed, trying to get rid off the little titan. "It hults!" It really did. But the tiny beebee was uncaring and kept munching Minho's cheek.
"Um-mum-mum." He let out a satisfied humm as he mushed his mouth deeper into Minho's, his baby hands gripping onto Minho like an octopus.
"Wookyung-ie, no biting Minho." Luckily a nanny spotted them and peeled the biting potato off of Minho much to the later's relief. He rubbed his cheek where Wookyung left two little teeth marks as a souvenir.
"Bad beebee bit me nanny. It hults!" Minho sniffled and pouted, rubbing his poor chubby cheek.
The nanny cooed, gently patting Minho's head. "I know sweetie. Wookyung is just teething, he didn't mean to hurt you. Why don't you go to Miss Lee and let her check you?" She pointed to the corner where another young woman sat with a group of children, holding a small first-aid box.
Minho's face brightened. Nurse Lee always gave away treats, so he happily trotted off.
But meanwhile-
"Waaaaaaa!" Wookyung started wailing as his new teddy bear walked away from him.
"Now, now, Wookyung," the nanny soothed, patting his back. "Don’t cry. Let’s get you a new toy, okay?"
She reached into the toy bin, pulling out a plush bunny. "Look, a bunny!"
Wookyung sniffled and stared at it.
Then shoved it away.
"No bunny? Okay… how about this car? Brrrmmm! Vroom vroom!"
Another sniffle. Another shove.
"Oh, a soft blankie! Doesn’t that feel nice?"
A hiccup. A glance. Then another shove.
Nothing worked.
No matter what the nanny offered, Wookyung kept rejecting it. He only kept looking at Minho's way.
"Min-Min." Wookyung pointed at Minho with his tiny finger, his limited vocabulary doing its best.
"Aww, you want to play with Minho?" The nanny cooed. "But you bit him, remember? That wasn’t very nice."
"Min-Min…" Wookyung sniffled, his round face wobbly with distress.
Before the nanny could respond, two other toddlers suddenly screeched at each other, launching into a full-on tug-of-war over a stuffed toy.
"Mine!"
"Nooo, mine!"
A slap. A yank. And then-
"Waaaaaaahhhhhh!!"
"Oh dear," the nanny sighed, swiftly scooping Wookyung up and placing him inside the baby playpen. "You stay here, sweetheart. It’s safer."
Wookyung plopped down on his bottom, gripping the baby bars as he watched Minho from afar, his big teary eyes locked onto him. His little heart failing to comprehend why the big teddy bear wouldn't play with him. He even gave him kisses!
Did he not like kisses?
Wookyung’s lips wobbled, his tiny fingers clutching the bars tighter.
He didn’t want bunnies or cars or blankies.
He wanted Min-Min.
Min-Min, aka Minho, was happily scribbling away after receiving a biscuit from Miss Lee. He was saving it for later.
Once he finished his masterpiece, the nanny hung it on the wall with a magnet.
Minho smiled proudly and picked up his precious biscuit.
Finally! He could eat!
But just as he was about to take a big, chomp-y bite-
He noticed something. Or rather, someone.
Wookyung.
The menacing potato.
Except… he wasn’t so menacing anymore.
Behind the playpen bars, Wookyung sat all alone, his tiny hands clutching the rails. His round, golden eyes were shiny with unshed tears, his puffy cheeks wobbling.
He looked… sad and lonely. Minho suddenly felt bad.
Sure, the tiny beebee bit him. But he was still a beebee. And maybe he bit Minho because he was hungry...
Minho fidgeted, glancing between his precious biscuit and the sniffly baby potato.Then, with a big sigh, he walked over to the playpen and held out his biscuit.
"Wan a bite?" he asked, his voice soft.
Wookyung’s big, shiny eyes blinked at the biscuit.Then at Minho. Then back at the biscuit. His tiny mouth wobbled and then without warning he launched forward like a baby bear.
"Ummummum!"
"Aaaaahhh!" Minho yelped as Wookyung chomped down, not on the biscuit, but onto Minho’s hand holding it.
"Not me, the bicki! The bicki!!"
Wookyung paused, his baby brain loading the new information. Then, finally he latched onto the biscuit instead, nibbling like a tiny hamster.
Minho sighed. "Tiny beebee is so much wok..."
Still, he let Wookyung have more than half before opening the playpen door.
Wookyung, being free and happy now, crawled onto Minho’s lap, gripping his shirt, afraid of losing his new teddy again.
Minho poked one of Wookyung's cheek.Yup it was really as squishy as it looked.
"Min-Min…" he mumbled happily, nuzzling into Minho’s chest.
"It's Minho not minmin."
"Mih-Mih"
"No Minho. Minnnn-Hoooo"
"Minn-ohhh"
Minho didn't give up and kept correcting Wookyung, who knows maybe in the the future he'd be a good teacher. But Wookyung as a baby was bad student, (well he's only one, so excuse him). So this struggle continued for a while.
"No it's Minho. Min-ho. Minnnn-h awyahhh" Minho’s words stretched into a yawn. His eyes blinked sleepily. Teaching was exhausting, after all, especially when the student was more interested in drooling on him and sucking his own thumb.
So Minho decided to postpone the lesson for today. He let out another yawn, rubbing his eyes, and waddled over to the soft play mat, plopping down with a satisfied sigh.
Nap time.
But just as he was about to close his eyes-
Pat, pat, pat.
A crawling potato followed. Minho cracked one eye open just in time to see Wookyung plop down next to him.
"You want to slweep wit me?"
In reply Wookyung climbed on top of him, his tiny body sprawled across Minho’s like a baby koala.
Minho was too sleepy to protest. Besides tiny beebee was warm, tiny beebee was soft. And before he knew it, Minho’s arms instinctively wrapped around Wookyung, and both drifted off into a cozy nap together.
Tiny beebee was a good substitute of pillow too.
***