Work Text:
The magazine had been enough.
Normally, it would have taken a lot more to have Jisung slipping into his little headspace. It had been months since he’d regressed, though. The stress from finals and all the late nights staying up to study had taken their toll.
Ignoring the magazine was out of the question; his eyes had taken in the bright colors, the tempting toys all over the front page. Within seconds, he had a bright idea.
It was a good way to relax, he thought, and well – he was right, just not in the way he’d planned.
“Lixi,” he said, getting the other boy's attention. He held out the thick magazine, and Felix’s eyes went wide. The same yearning excitement he felt, he saw mirrored on Felix’s face.
They sat side by side on the couch, flipping through the first few pages. Both of them were in awe of all the toys advertised in preparation for the upcoming holidays.
“I want that,” Felix said, pointing at a doll with iridescent fairy wings.
“Woah,” Jisung replied. He didn’t even collect or play with dolls like Felix did, but he couldn’t help but agree; the doll was stunning. An idea came to him, and he moved the magazine into Felix’s lap so he could slide off the couch. “I’ll be right back.”
He ran into the extra bedroom, mentally berating himself in Minho’s voice: no running in the house. When Jisung was big, or they had company over, they referred to the extra room as the office. The rest of the time, it was aptly called: ‘Jiji’s Playroom.’
Digging through the desk drawers, he found a few pastel sharpies he’d stored in there. He was still big enough to realize regular markers might not work well on the glossy pages of the toy magazine.
“What color do you want?” he asked as he walked back into the living room. Felix was respectfully waiting where he’d left him and hadn’t turned the page. “I have pink and purple and blue.” There was a part of him, getting younger by the second, that hoped he didn’t choose pink.
“Purple!” Felix exclaimed.
Side by side, they lay on the floor, both on their tummies. Circling things in the magazine that they wanted, they giggled excitedly at the promise of Christmas and presents. Out loud, they wondered what Santa might bring them.
“If we’re good,” Felix amended. They both giggled; they were always good.
There were no warning bells in his head, no shifting of awareness. Just a soft glow and the warm press of his friend’s body next to his as the afternoon moved on.
It was a large magazine, and they moved slowly and meticulously through it. Whenever Jisung saw something he especially wanted, he drew a heart next to it. The hearts grew sloppier and less recognizable as he went on. Felix had decided on stars instead of hearts. His, too, looked more like little scribbles instead of stars by the time they were halfway through the magazine.
Jisung, ever the best big brother, praised his stars dutifully regardless of what they looked like. What started as, “Looks beautiful,” slowly changed to a no-less-enthusiastic, “Pretty!”
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Felix froze up next to him. “I have to go potty,” he said, his voice quiet.
Jisung didn’t recognize the significance of Felix’s words right away. He continued his very serious heart drawing around a portable DVD player and a copy of Howl’s Moving Castle. Felix wiggled a little uncomfortably, and Jisung sat up on his knees, immediately going into big brother mode. He was only a day older than Felix – physically, at least – but he took his job very seriously.
“Okay! Let’s go.” He took Felix’s hand and bypassed the guest bathroom. Instead, he led Felix into his and Minho’s bathroom, knowing all of Jisung’s little supplies were in there – just in case.
“Do you need help?”
Felix looked down at his pants, because of course he’d chosen today of all days to wear jeans with three buttons instead of a zipper.
“Maybe,” he admitted.
In their headspace, their fingers were clumsy and uncoordinated, but together they got Felix’s pants unbuttoned and pushed down his thighs.
Jisung dug underneath the sink while Felix did his business. With a triumph noise, he pulled the tub of diapers, wipes, and pull-ups out onto the floor.
“Do you want a pull-up? We have Bluey and My Little Pony.” He really hoped Felix didn’t want a diaper instead, because Jisung didn’t know how to put them on. Secretly, Jisung didn’t want to share his diapers; they were his special Winnie the Pooh ones his daddy had bought him. Jisung didn’t like having to wear diapers – he was a Big Boy – but wearing Winnie the Pooh diapers was okay and made him feel extra special and small.
Felix’s cheeks flushed a little pink. “My Little Pony,” he said.
Between the two of them, they got Felix’s pull-up on and his hands washed. There was no way his tight jeans were going back on, though.
Felix sat on Minho and Jisung’s bed, rubbing his bare legs together and biting his fingers. He still seemed a little shy about wanting to wear the pull-up, so Jisung grabbed one for himself.
“Look! Now we’ll match!”
“Twins!” Felix exclaimed, like he always did. His embarrassment vanished in an instant.
Fortunately, Jisung had just been wearing sweatpants, so getting changed into the pull-up wasn’t much of a hassle. He rifled through the bottom drawer of his dresser and pulled out two oversized My Little Pony shirts for them to change into. Felix took the Fluttershy shirt, which was just fine with Jisung cause that meant he could wear Rainbow Dash.
“Sockies?” Felix asked. “My feet are cold.”
Jisung opened another drawer and pulled out a pair of thick pink socks and helped Felix put them on.
When they were getting settled back in the living room, Felix said, a little hesitantly, “‘Sungie? I’m hungry.”
“Oh.” Jisung stared into the kitchen. He was not supposed to go in there without supervision, but he was trying to be a good big brother, and he was getting hungry too. “Okay.”
He shuffled into the kitchen, beelining for the pantry. He scanned their options.
“Goldfish?” he hollered.
“Yes, please,” came Felix’s quiet reply. “And choco milk?”
Jisung stared at the refrigerator with something akin to horror. Ok, he thought, I can do this.
He pulled down two sippy cups, purple for Felix and pink for himself, and then turned to the fridge. Bracing himself, like the fridge might bite him, he opened it quickly, grabbed the chocolate milk, and then slammed the door shut. He winced at the rattling it made, but didn’t open it again to see if anything had fallen over.
Despite his best efforts, he still spilled some of the chocolate milk on the counter… and the floor, but he got most of it in their cups! He snapped the lids on as well as he could and carried the cups into the living room, the goldfish bag hanging from his mouth.
Felix cheered, clapping his hands. “Good job, Jiji!”
Jisung grinned proudly, the movement of his mouth causing the goldfish bag to drop. Miraculously, they did not spill. Felix giggled and crawled over to assist him.
He handed Felix his milk, and they got back to their very important job of circling all the toys they wanted for Christmas.
They were nearing the end of the magazine when the keypad at the front door beeped. Felix and Jisung stared at each other with twin faces of horror. Before they could hide from what was clearly a Felix and Jisung kidnapper, the door was opening, and Chan walked in.
“Da!” Felix screeched at a frankly alarming volume.
Chan blinked, realization dawning as he took in the scene. “Hi, baby.”
Jisung sat up, feet tucked under his bum. It was very important to him that Channie knew how good of a big brother he’d been, taking care of baby Lixi. “He went potty and we ate gold fish and drank choco milk and circled all the things for Santa,” he listed, checking things off on his fingers.
“Good job, Jiji,” Chan praised.
Jisung beamed, and Felix patted his head.
“Why didn’t you call me or Appa when you started feeling small, bug?”
Started feeling small? He thought, frowning. But he wasn’t– He looked down at himself, his and Felix’s matching pull-up’s and oversized t-shirts, their fuzzy warm socks. He and Felix both had sharpie stains on their arms and somehow even on their legs. There was a dot of purple on Felix’s cheek, mixed in with his freckles. Felix had chocolate milk on his chin and upper lip. Gold fish were scattered across the carpet. He was pretty sure he’d left the chocolate milk out on the counter.
His daddy was going to be so mad at him.
Chan’s tone had been gentle, but Jisung burst into tears all the same. When Chan spoke, his voice was closer, soothing, but Jisung just curled himself into a ball and cried harder.
“What is going on here?” Minho’s voice cut through Jisung’s wailing minutes or hours later.
He peeked his head out from his protective ball. “Daddy!”
“Dada made Jiji cry,” Felix said, his voice muffled around his thumb. His other hand was rubbing over Jisung’s back in an attempted soothing gesture.
Chan sighed and grumbled something teasing that may have been, “You little tattle tale.”
Minho picked Jisung up. Jisung wrapped himself around him like a koala, his cries muffled into Minho’s neck.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Chan said. “I didn’t mean to.” Minho said something, voice quiet, and Chan replied: “They were like this when I got here.”
“Little or crying?”
“Little.”
Jisung drifted in and out, not quite asleep and not quite done crying, only vaguely aware of Minho moving around and talking.
“Honey.” Minho rubbed his back. “Can you say bye to Lixi and Channie?”
Jisung lifted his head. Felix had been dressed in a pair of Jisung’s sweatpants at some point. Chan was carrying him along with Felix’s clothes and shoes.
“Bye, Jiji. Thanks for taking care of me.”
“Sorry for making you cry, bug. You did such a good job. I’m very proud of you.”
Jisung waved his fingers before tucking his face back into Minho’s neck.
Shortly later, he was laid down on the bed. He tried to cling to Minho, but when that didn’t work, he hid behind his hands. In theory, if he couldn’t see his daddy, his daddy couldn’t see him.
“Honey, let me look at you. Why’re you hiding from daddy?” He tickled at Jisung’s legs, and Jisung wiggled.
“Daddy mad at Jiji.”
“No, daddy’s not mad at his little Jiji.”
Jisung frowned, peaking out from behind his hands. “Daddy mad at big Jiji?”
Minho laughed lightly. “No, baby bee, daddy’s not mad at big Jiji either.”
He must’ve been telling the truth, because he’d called Jisung his baby bee, which was Jisung’s extra special nickname. He dropped his hands and made a buzz sound questionably.
“There’s my little bee. Hi, baby.” He rubbed at his cheeks affectionately, kissing each of them in turn until Jisung giggled happily.
“Daddy, I missed you.”
“I missed you, too, honey bee, but you did such a good job taking care of Lixi. You know that?”
Jisung shrugged, pouting. “I made mess,” he said. “And I’m not know I was being little. I didn’t call you. I just wanted to look at toys.”
Minho kissed his cheek again. “I know, honey. I’m not mad. I should have hidden that magazine from you,” he teased, tickling his sides again. “You find lots of toys you want?”
Jisung nodded his head quickly. “I circled them in pink and Felix did purple and we made hearts and stars.”
“Good job, baby.”
“Daddy,” he asked hesitantly, biting at his fingers.
Minho pulled his hand away from his mouth. “What, baby?”
“Can I wear my Pooh?” he asked, tugging at his pull-up.
Minho’s gaze softened. “Of course, baby. Whatever you want.”
⋆｡‧˚ʚ🧸ɞ˚‧｡⋆
Jisung was properly ‘Winnie-the-Pooh-ing It,’ as he daddy said. He had on a Winnie the Pooh diaper and a soft Winnie the Pooh sweater that fell past his knuckles. His legs were bare, curled up under his Winnie the Pooh blanket while he watched Winnie the Pooh on the television. Under one arm was his favorite Winnie the Pooh plush.
“I just need some honey!” he exclaimed.
Minho, having cleaned up the kitchen and living room, poked him in the belly. “You are the honey.” He lifted Jisung’s sweater so he could pretend to eat his belly, blowing raspberries as Jisung giggled and tried to push him away.
“No, daddy, I’m not for food!”
Minho tapped his chin. “Are you sure?”
Jisung giggled. “Yes, daddy.”
“I guess I should make us some dinner, then. Mac and cheese?”
“Yes, please!”
Later, when their bellies were full, Minho asked, “Do you need anything else, baby bee?”
“Just daddy,” he said, smiling cheerfully.
Minho let out a surprised gasp. “Guess what?”
Jisung hummed, wiggling.
He leaned over, pressing kisses all over Jisung’s face till Jisung was in danger of falling over, his giggles drowning out the movie. “I need you, too, baby.”
“Really?”
“Really, really. Now come sit in my lap, Daddy needs some snuggles.”
Jisung happily complied.