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“Hyung, are you ready yet?”
Minho didn’t answer. He was not, in fact, ready. He was also not, in fact, Jisung’s hyung.
“I’m coming in, alright?”
That wasn’t alright, but his voice was stuck in his head. Curled up in the corner, soft blankets piled over his head. Blanket fort, best way to hide.
The door clicked open, footsteps walking in, a soft sigh. Minho stayed hidden, not peeking out. Just pouting, sniffing and trying to not cry again. Because maybe then Jisung wouldn’t find him, maybe he could stay in his safe little castle, maybe he could skip work entirely—
“Why are we hiding?”
Ok, so that plan isn’t working. He still doesn’t respond, even though he’s been caught. “Minho, open up.” But he’s safe under here, he doesn’t want to come out. He wants to stay right here, with no adult interference. “Can- Can I come hide with you?”
“Mmmn.” That means no. Jisung probably doesn’t know that, because he lifts the blankets off Minho’s head. “Mmnn!”
“Can you use your words for me?”
It’s too many questions, too much information. That’s why he slipped anyways, because he was overwhelmed and his brain suddenly decided he’s a kid. Maybe less than a kid. Maybe closer to a young toddler. Baby, even. But his head’s too fuzzy and drained and he wants Jisung to put the blanket back down.
“No words, hm?”
“Mm.”
“Can I join you?”
They have to leave soon. Probably within the next 10 minutes. And Minho is dragging Jisung into a blanket fort.
“I’ll sit right here, ok?” Minho doesn’t say anything, he’s quiet. He’s normally quiet, but today the words aren’t forming as easily. Like he doesn’t remember how to talk. “Can you tell me how old you feel?”
He pouts some more and folds his arms, hiding his fingers so they can’t count for him. “Hmm, do you not know baby?” No, he doesn’t, but he doesn’t want Jisung to know either. For no reason. He just doesn’t. “That’s alright, Min. What’s, um… What’s going on, hm?”
Jisung pokes his knee, gently though, like a tickle. A tiny worm saying hello from a hole in the ground.
“Are youuu… sad?” Minho shakes his head a little bit. Maybe he’s a little sad.
“What about… angry?” He shakes his head more. Definitely not angry.
“Hmm…” Minho releases an arm from it’s prison and pokes the finger worm back. He looks up and sees Jisung smiling at him. “Are you happy?” He doesn’t do anything, because he doesn’t really know. He’s not happy but he’s not unhappy, he has a worm friend now.
“Are youuuu… Um. I’m running out of options.” Minho giggled a little, tiny high-pitched laughter. “Why’s that funny?” He looked up at Jisung and blinked a few times, waiting for him to figure out what the next emotion was.
“How about overwhelmed? Are you feeling overwhelmed?
“Mm…”
“Yeah? Too much going on, hm?”
“Mmmhm.”
The finger worm goes back to Jisung’s lap, Minho shuffling forward to follow it. “You want my hand?” He nodded, like, a lot. Because he wants the finger again, it’s silly. “Yeah? Come closer, baby, sit here for me.” Jisung opened his arms for Minho to crawl into his lap.
And he did. Because he wants the worm. Now, preferably.
“There we go. Hi cutie.” Jisung boops Minho’s nose, with the worm finger, and he wriggles around with a giant grin on his face. His cheeks hurt from smiling so much at the silly worm. “Awh, you’re so cute, hm?”
He’s not cute.
So, he bites at Jisung’s finger when he goes to poke his nose again. It’s not tasty, he knows, he’s tried before. But Sungie is laughing and that’s funny.
“Hey! Kitten, that is not nice.” He’s smiling so it’s not very convincing. “We don’t bite! No biting.”
“Siwy.”
“I’m silly? Really? I didn’t know that.”
Jisung definitely did. He was always silly. But he decided to ruin the fun by asking, “Do you think we can get ready to go or are we staying here today?”
Minho curled up a little bit, because he doesn’t want to go. He wants his blanket fort. He wants Sungie cuddles. He wants his paci…
“You wanna stay here cutie?” More tiny nodding, with a pout for good measure. “Awh, yeah, ok. Ok, baby, we can stay here.”
The pout quickly became a smile.
There was some shuffling, Jisung struggling to lift Minho into bed because the little couldn’t stop laughing at him. He kept a blanket over his head and immediately sunk into the mattress. Snuggled into a little ball.
“Right, I’ve texted to say you’re… tiny.” Jisung’s voice was muffled outside the blanket. “It’s just you and me today, kitten, so you decide what you wanna do.”
All he wants is hugs and cuddles and Jisung’s finger. And his paci, he really wants that. Maybe TV or toys too, but that’s later. Maybe a bath or a nap. Too many choices, his head hurts.
“Unless you’re too small to make decisions, baby, then I can.” Minho whines, because he’s too small for this, all the responsibility. Jisung lifts a corner of the fort, peeking in. “Is that a yes?” Tiny nod. “Alright, baby, Sungie’ll make the decisions today. I’m gonna make the room dark, ok?”
The curtains scrape shut, Minho covering his ears under the blanket. When it stops, Jisung pokes his head in again. “It’s all dark now kitten, you can come out if you want. I’m gonna make you a bottle up.”
“Mmm!”
“You want something else, little one?” He nodded, pointing to his lips with a small hand. “Paci, hm?” More nodding. “Ok, I can get that. One second, yeah?”
Minho waited, crawling out of his bunker into the now dark room. He watched Jisung closely, even if he couldn’t see that well.
“Open up.” Jisung waved the pacifier in front of Minho’s face until he giggled lightly. “Here,” the caregiver whispered, placing the object between the little’s lips. “There we go, all better. I’ll go make you a bottle up, ok?”
While waiting for Sungie to come back, Minho curled up into a little ball, only his head outside of the blanket. He liked that the room was dark now, less painful.
The only thing is he doesn’t really like being alone. Even if people are too much, Minho wants cuddles and to fall asleep on Jisung’s chest. And it’s dark! He’s alone in the dark. That’s worse. The light was annoying him, but it’s easier to not be around people when it’s light. He can still see. And now he can’t.
It’s all overwhelming again.
“Awhh, kitten, why are you crying? Hm? You don’t need to cry, it’s ok.” Jisung put the bottle down on the bedside table and climbed into bed, lifting Minho into a hug. “Was Sungie gone for too long?”
“Mmm.”
“I’m sorry Min, I’m here now.” Minho snuggled himself into Jisung’s arms. “Can I wipe these tears baby?” He hugged in tighter, not letting any stray fingers touch his face. The tears would be wiped on Jisung’s shirt, he decided. “No? Not even if you get to play with my hand for a little while?”
“Mn.”
“That’s a no noise, I… I assume.”
“Mmmhmm.”
“That’s a yes. I know that one, kitten.”
There’s a hand petting his hair, soft and slow. “Does Sungie get a prize for knowing your little noises?” Absolutely not. But Minho likes Jisung, he likes Jisung’s silliness, he likes when Jisung knows tiny things about him. He peeks up from where he’s buried his head and tries to smile with the pacifier in his mouth. “Hi baby. Is that my prize? A smile?”
He nods. It’s a very good prize.
Jisung chuckles and removes the hand holding Minho’s head to boop his nose. He reaches out to grab at the finger, examining it. It’s not the worm, but maybe it’s a caterpillar.
He, unfortunately, cannot bite the finger this time when he’s called cute. Downside of the paci… But he likes the paci. It’s soothing, and he needs that. Like how he needs his bottle.
Minho points to the side of the bed, wriggling a little. “Bottle?” He nods, big nods, clear. He wants the bottle. Jisung reaches over, still supporting Minho’s weight, and picks up the bottle of milk. “Let’s take paci away so you can drink, little one, yeah?” Slower nods, smaller nods. He still wants his paci, but he knows he can’t have both.
He’s tried before. It didn’t work.
The pacifier is removed from his mouth, slowly, then the bottle is put in it’s place. “Go slowly, hm? No guzzling like last time, baby.” Last time wasn’t fun either, and despite not really knowing what guzzling means, he doesn’t like the sound of that word. It sounds bad.
This wasn’t bad though. This was nice, cozy and peaceful. Ease flooding his body as Minho drank from his bottle and Jisung cooed at him. Every so often his caregiver would remind him to slow down a little, but that’s his only complaint. The milk is tasty, what else is he meant to do? Not drink it?
Eventually the sucks get less frequent, Jisung removing the bottle and letting Minho doze while he moved them both to lie down more. So sleepy, milk normally makes him sleepy. Being this small also makes him sleepy. So tiny, so fuzzy.
“I’ll be right here, ok? You sleep now.”
“Mhmm.”
“Yeah, mhm. Sleep well Min.”