Jimin jumped down beside him, somehow skilfully closing the window as he did so, and the oldest little giggled and waved to Jungkook who was hidden by the back wall of the house, the maknae giddily waving back.
"Get down hewe befowe they find us!" He called up to them quietly but with urgency, and Jimin nodded and climbed down as fast as he could, slipping a little on the bricks, but he landed on his feet and got down safely.
"That was cwose! C'mon Minnie, less go!" Jungkook said, grabbing Jimin's hand and running of into the garden, but they were stopped when they heard a little cry from the roof.
"I-I can't do it!"
Jimin's and Jungkook's eyes grew wide when they looked back up to the roof and saw Taehyung, the boy pressing his back firmly against the wall of the house as his legs trembled and tears began to fall from his eyes.
"Iss t-too high! I-I Sowwy! I-I knows Taetae a w-wimp an a b-big baby... a-an Taetae is no fun! I knows..." Taehyung sobbed, covering his face with shaky hands and crouching down on the roof, not wanting to look at how far the ground was from him as he cried harder.
The other two panicked and ran back over, looking up to where Taehyung was with eyes that were wide with guilt and concern.
"Taetae iss otay! Don cwy!" Jimin gasped, wanting to go up and help, but the littles couldn't climb back up, they only knew how to get down.
"I-I wan Hyungie!" Taehyung whimpered through his tears, and Jungkook immediately ran off to get help, their prank long forgotten the moment they'd realised their mistake.
"T-Taetae... Minnie Sowwy! I-I sowwy Taetae..." Jimin tried to apologise to his friend, but Taehyung seemed to be inconsolable, just wanting to get down from the roof and go inside to cuddle his hyungs. Luckily for him, Jungkook came running back with both Jin and Yoongi on his tail, the maknae pointing up to the roof as he anxiously bounced on his toes.
"How the- what did you guys do?" Yoongi growled to the other two littles who bowed their heads in shame, hoping that Jin would be able to calm Taehyung down enough to get him to climb down the few metres that he had to go. It wasn't that high, but it was high enough to freak out a three year old who has a fear of heights for sure.
"Tae, sweetie~" Jin hummed, his gentle and familiar voice prompting the brown-haired little to pull his trembly hands away from his teary face, but he almost broke down again at the sight of his oldest hyung looking up at him.
"H-Hyungie!" Taehyung choked out a broken whimper and shook his head, "Taetae scawed!"
Jin gently hushed him, keeping a reassuring look in his eyes as he slowly made his way over to the place where Jimin and Jungkook climbed down, and he was able to see the anxious little a bit clearer from there.
"Take a deep breath, darling, you're okay." He cooed, seeing how Taehyung's teary eyes snapped over to meet his own, and Taehyung whined.
"I-I wan down! P-pease... Taetae w-wan down..." he cried, and Jin turned to Yoongi for help, the younger caregiver nodding and running over.
"Tae, baby, listen to me. As soon as we get you down, you can come inside for cuddles, okay?" Yoongi hummed, his rare yet gentle tone helping the frightened little to begin calming down as he focused on what was happening rather than what could happen.
"I want you to come over here and climb down right where Kookie and Minnie climbed down, okay? I'm gonna be right here." Yoongi spoke clearly, and although Taehyung was clearly afraid, he shuffled over and sat on the side of the roof. He was only maybe just over three metres up, but for Taehyung, looking down made him dizzy.
He made a tiny sound of fear, and Yoongi immediately raised his arms up, nodding to the boy.
"C'mon baby, Hyung won't let you fall. Slowly does it, there you go." Yoongi reassured, and slowly but surely, Taehyung began to climb down.
"Good job, sweetheart." Jin praised as the shaky boy got about halfway, before jumping down and running immediately into Yoongi's arms.
He let out a small sob as he trembled and clung onto Yoongi, allowing the older male to lift him up with some difficulty, but soon enough Yoongi managed to hold him comfortably enough to help soothe the boy.
"Shhh, you're okay, baby." He whispered, shooting a glare at the other two littles who were looking very guilty.
"D-Dey cawed me n-names, Hyungie. M-Maded Taetae v-vewy sad..." Taehyung sniffled, and Jin immediately turned around and grabbed both Jungkook and Jimin by their hands, dragging them inside with Yoongi and Taehyung in tow.
The moment Yoongi stepped into the house, he and Taehyung found the other three caregivers standing in front of the two littles, arms folded over their chests as they looked down at Jimin and Jungkook who were sat in the corner.
"You're both in big trouble. Do you have any idea how worried we were when we couldn't find you?!" Hoseok growled, and Jimin sniffled and nodded while Jungkook pouted and did the same.
"These kinds of pranks aren't funny, little ones. I know Taetae had a part in this, but you can't force him to do things that he doesn't want to do, okay? And you definitely can't call him names. That's not very nice, is it?" Namjoon scolded, and while Jimin shook his head sadly, Jungkook snapped his head up and made grabby hands for Taehyung with tears in his eyes.
"Mmh!" He whined, having slipped to a much smaller headspace, causing Jin to sigh and pull a clean dummy from his pocket. He popped it into the maknae's mouth, before picking Jungkook up and carrying him over to Taehyung before he could start crying. Considering he was non-verbal right now, Jungkook couldn't physically apologise, but when Yoongi and Jin put the littles down next to each other, the maknae immediately tackled Taehyung with a hug.
Taehyung was a little shocked at first, but he wasn't one to hold grudges, so he tightly hugged Jungkook back and stuffed his face into the maknae's shoulder. Jimin looked up at Namjoon and Hoseok with pleading eyes, and after a second or two, both caregivers gave in and nodded to the boy as well. Jimin jumped up and ran over to his little friends, joining in on the hug and causing their caregivers to watch them with fond smiles. They couldn't stay angry for long with those three, it was impossible.
"Jungkook's lucky he's too small to be punished." Yoongi huffed, and Jin chuckled softly, nudging the male lightly in the arm.
"We all know you'd prefer cuddles." He teased, and although Yoongi tried to play it off with a grimace and an eye roll, inside he knew that Jin was right.
"C-can hab cuddews?"
Taehyung's small voice caught the attention of all four of the caregivers, and with a pout like that and his big shiny eyes, they couldn't possibly deny him.
"Alright, fine. Taetae, pick a movie. Minnie, grab the blankets. And Kookie-" Namjoon spoke, but when he saw Jungkook's big doe eyes looking up at him with absolutely no thoughts behind them, he stopped himself with a sheepish chuckle and gently ruffled the maknae's hair.
"Too small, gotcha. I'll take care of the snacks then." He said, making the others laugh as they all hurried off to get ready. Ten minutes later and they were all lined up on the sofa, all of the littles in fuzzy animal onsies with a blanket draped over them. Jungkook was fast asleep against Hobi's chest before they'd even started the movie that Taehyung had chosen, but Taehyung himself couldn't even sing to the Disney songs when he felt Jin's gentle fingers carding through his hair, causing him to close his eyes with fatigue.
"No more pranks, hm?" Namjoon hummed, and both Jimin and Taehyung nodded, the oldest little making himself comfortable between Namjoon and Yoongi as he too began to feel rather sleepy, a lolly pop half hanging out of his mouth. Jin chuckled and pressed a kiss to Taehyung's forehead, rolling his eyes.
"What a little handful."
