Arcadia 11

Thirty-eight

Markie and Namjoonie woke up to a loud crash and multiple people laughing. Upon seeing the older Little, Markie grew excited, because that meant his Uncle TaeTae was nearby.

"Jooie!" Markie said, his voice coming across much louder than usual. His smile stretching across his face to show off is adorable 'fangs'.

"Markie!" Namjoonie replied, his smile growing wider as the "younger" sat up. "Do you wanna play?"

The head nod was immediate, but stopped quickly when he grew dizzy, a giggle falling from his lips. Namjoonie sat up too and started crawling out of bed. "Appa brought toys and TaeTae brought snacks!" He exclaimed. "I be right back!" He tottled to the door and fumbled with the knob, before rushing down the hall.

Markie looked around the room, his eyes landing on his Tiger and growing excited, he squealed loudly reaching for the nightstand, unaware of how close to the edge he was. It happened so fast, one second he was reaching for his toy, the next he was staring at the floor. His head hurt and his eyes were filling with tears. It only took an instant for the shock to wear off and for his chest to heave as he began crying. He wasn't very loud, but the apartment had gone silent the second the loud thump had occurred.

Several footfalls sounded as everyone rushed to his aide, but Markie wasn't worried about that. He just wanted his Baba and Appa to hold him and tell him they loved him, to kiss his owie away and give him nothing but cuddles for the rest of the night. The first person in the room was surprisingly Jinyoung, the dark haired male freezing at the sight of Markie laying half tangled in the bed sheets while tears left his eyes. Next was Jaeboem, it only took him a moment to assess the situation before he was striding across the room and pulling Markie into his lap. Jackson herded the others out and quickly shut the door, turning to see his Little being cradled by his emotionless leader. The instant Markies eyes landed on him, he found himself moving to join the hug. It was a little awkward at first, both adults struggling to find a comfortable way to hug the Little without touching their faces together, but in the end they made it work. Calming their distraught baby.

By the time Markie had stopped sobbing and began to hiccup, both males' legs were asleep. Jackson was the first to stand, shaking his legs in an exaggerated manner, his smile growing when Markie let out a breathy giggle. "There's my baby." He cooed, ruffling the blonde locks. The "younger" snuggled closer to Jaebeom, squirming in his lap when Jackson started tickling him.

Jaeboem playfully swatted the Chinese male's hands, pretending to fend off the attack. The door opened slowly admitting the two youngest of BTS, Taehyung was holding a bright red gift bag with white tissue paper coming out the top, the handles were tied together with multi-colored ribbons all curled and shining happily. Jungkook came in behind him holding a larger package this one was in a glittering metallic paper wrapped perfectly. There was a neon green bow attached to the top, Jungkook kept messing with it, his eyes flicking over the room taking in the lack of decoration and personality to one half of the room, his face went blank, hiding his thoughts behind a careful mask.

"Markie-Baby!" Taehyung sang, smiling widely as he crouched next to the happy Little sitting between his caregivers. The Little's smile grew impossibly wider, his eyes twinkling beautifully. "Kookie and I got you somethings!" He cheered, shaking the bag.

"For me?" Markie asked, his eyes growing wider in shock and a small sparkle of hope. It broke the boy's heart to see their baby reacting that way to getting a gift.

"Of course!" Jungkook chimed in. He was hoping his smile wasn't as strained as the others. "Who else would I buy this for, cutey?" He cooed, kneeling beside Taehyung and setting the package next to him, once his hands were free he opened his arms. "Can we get some cuddles?" He asked, giving his own puppy eyes.

Jaeboem had to let the incredibly happy baby out of his arms before getting elbowed in the face. He couldn't be upset when seeing how content the eldest looked, his weight loss and exhaustion were still clearly an issue, but for now the male was alright. Jackson moved backwards separating himself from his leader and grabbing the stuffed tiger off the nightstand next to his bed, then grabbed the elephant and handed it to Jaeboem, knowing Markie hadn't been separated from his stuffed animals since he'd gotten them. Getting a small smile from the leader, he set the tiger in his lap, unconsciously petting the soft faux fur. They watched as Markie began playing with Taehyung's fingers babbling quietly to Jungkook all while smiling, he looked so excited as he talked to the members of BTS. His voice never reaching above a normal speaking level, he still flinched when the door opened again, loudly hitting the wall. In the doorway stood Namjoonie his eyes red and bottom lip wobbly.

"You 'kay?" He asked, the weakened tone and sad eyes giving him away. "I sorry I left you!" He wailed, scrambling to the younger's side. "Markie 'kay?" He asked again. "I sorry! I sorry! I sorry!" He cried, falling into the pile tangled limbs.

"Nammie!" Markie called back, his smile only growing wider as he started playing with his friend's hair. "Baba, Look! Nammie!" He called, looking to Jackson with excitement. "Nammie sad?" He asked, finally realizing the other was crying. "Why sad?" He turned to Taehyung and Jungkook figuring they would know.

"Namjoonie is sad because he thinks he hurt you." Taehyung supplied, his eyes on the distraught Little who was still crying. "He feels bad because you fell."

"But... I... He... NO!" Markie shouted, startling everyone, including himself. But he didn't let his surprise last, speaking determinedly. "I fall. Nammie not hurt me." He was pouting at the adults trying to look serious and pulling on quite a few heartstrings in the process. "No." He repeated, falling over Namjoonie as if to protect him.

"Oh, baby." Jaeboem said, reaching out to run a careful hand through Markie's blond hair. "No one is mad at Namjoonie, he didn't do anything wrong." he assured, making sure to pitch his voice loud enough even Namjoon heard it. 

"Good." Markie said, giving a single nod. He looked so serious it was almost laughable. The men in the room all cooed, ruffling hair (Jaeboem), pinching cheeks(Jackson), squeezed him tighter (Taehyung), or patted his back in pride (Jungkook). It was amazing how far the Little had come in such a short amount of time. Taehyung didn't regret telling the GOT7 members about this adorable nugget.