It happens to the best of us ✔️

~5~

The nap had helped Felix sleep off his fever and he felt a lot better afterwards. Although he didn't feel sick anymore, he had slipped deeper into his headspace after using his pacifier. Feeling so young, all Felix wanted was his daddy to hold him and play with him. Too bad that his daddy was still sick with the same bug Felix had just gotten over and on top of that, he felt just as little as Felix himself if not younger. Chan was still asleep when the other Aussie woke up from his nap, whimpering quietly in his sleep. Felix sat up and contemplated waking his daddy up, so he would play with him. What stopped him was the pacifier between the leader's lips and the events of the morning came crashing down on him. His daddy was little too. Chan had never been little before, so he had no problem being Felix' caregiver but now? Would he be able to take care of his fellow Aussie ever again? Sure, Felix loved to have a brother in headspace but he loved his daddy. He loved how Chan would easily pick him up and carry him on his hip, how the older would put him on his lap to feed him, how he'd make him his bottle and tuck him in at night. As cute as the leader looked right now, Felix wanted his daddy back.

Hyunjin had watched Felix sit up and stare at Chan with teary eyes, before climbing off the couch and waddling to his room. The leader was still asleep, so the dancer felt it was safe to leave him for a second and to check on the other little. His heart broke when he found Felix curled up in one corner off his bed, quiet sobs escaping his lips as he hugged his favorite plushie, a cute, fluffy koala bear. It was actually the first ever plushie Chan had gotten him the day he had asked Felix to be his little. Hyunjin quietly sat down on the other side of the bed, reaching out one hand to touch the younger's shoulder. Flinching away, the little looked up at him. He still had his pacifier between his lips and was sucking on it harshly, desperately trying to calm himself down. The caregiver carefully brushed his thumbs over Felix' cheeks, wiping away the tears only for them to be replaced with fresh ones immediately. "Can hyungie hold you?", Hyunjin whispered, opening his arms as an invitation for the little to climb into his lap. Scooting further away, Felix shook his head and brought his hands up to cover his face. The caregiver felt helpless, he always soothed the younger by rocking him, so what was he going to do if the little didn't want him to?

Hyunjin dropped his arms into his lap, sighing sadly: "Baby, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick again? Does anything hurt? How can hyungie help you?" When he had wiped Felix' cheeks, it had felt like the fever was gone but maybe his stomach had started to hurt again. The little roughly shook his head, choking on a sob. His paci had dropped onto the bed as he was crying to hard to keep it between his lips, so Hyunjin picked it up and placed it on the nightstand. "Lixxie, hyung wants to help you but I can't if you refuse to talk to me", the caregiver frowned, unsure if the younger had slipped non-verbal or if he just didn't want to talk to him. That question was answered when Felix choked out: "Nuh wan' hyung, wan' daddy!" – "Sweetie, you know daddy can't be here right now. Hyungie will take care of you till your daddy is better, yeah?", the dancer smiled sadly. Felix flinched again when Hyunjin reached out to put him on his lap, crying: "NUH, nuh, wan' daddy NOW!" The caregiver frustratedly ran a hand through his hair, not knowing how he could calm the Aussie down, since there was no way he could wake the sick Chan and force him out of his headspace. "Lix, listen to me. Channie is pretty sick right now and he's little too. He needs his rest and you need to calm down because you're going to wake him if you keep raising your voice at me", Hyunjin warned sternly.

Felix had stopped crying but he looked really angry and the caregiver was sure their situation would escalate and the Aussie would start throwing a tantrum because he couldn't get what he wanted. To his surprise, the little didn't. After five minutes of staring each other down, the younger caved and crawled over into his hyung's lap. Pressing his face against Hyunjin's neck, Felix whimpered: "Lixxie can't lose daddy. Now daddy baby too an' nuh gonna take cawe of Lixxie anymowe." The older felt something wet dripping onto his collarbone and tightened his arms around his crying dongsaeng. "I know you miss him, baby. But you know what else I know? I know that your daddy loves you more than anything else and he loves to take care of you. Yeah, he has a headspace of his own now but I don't think that he will completely stop taking care of you. Somedays he'll take care of his Lixxie and some days he'll slip too, so you two can play together. Channie just needs to get better and recover from his bug. When he isn't sick anymore, the two of you can talk it out and see how it will work out in the future because I know, somehow it will", Hyunjin hummed, rubbing the little's back to soothe him. Felix nodded and after a few minutes he managed to calm down. Pulling away from his hyung, the older looked at him and dried the little's face with his sleeve. He bounced Felix slightly, asking: "Now, I have to go check on Channie. Do you want to come with hyung or do you want to stay here and rest a bit?"