Straykids OS (Book)

right.. I'm the oldest 🍼

Ship: Chan x Stray kids
Little: Felix (4 -6 y/o), Chan (mostly Babyspace)
Triggers/Warnings: Littlespace, angst, hurt, fluff

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After working hard for several months, the boys from stray kids finally got a well-deserved break. This meant that Felix, who came out as a little a year ago, would probably wake up in his headspace the next morning. Chan didn't really mind, Felix was cute and just looked after him. Chan loved playing with Lixie even if it wasn't for long. The reason for this was that Chan himself is a little. The reason no one else knows is because Chan says to himself, 'I'm the oldest, so I have to act like one.' Which is why he didn't slip once in the entire time, which turned out to be one of his biggest mistakes the next morning. 

The next day came and surprisingly Chan was the last one to wake up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up with some difficulty. At this point the Aussie didn't realize that he had slipped overnight until he tried to stand up and walk. Waking up in your youngest headspace isn't the best, but Channie grinned and tried everything he could to wobble his way towards the voices. With his pacifier in his mouth, he wobbled into the room where he met his hyungies. But what happened next took him right out of his comfort zone. 

"Chan-Hyung! Take the pacifier out of your mouth! You're not a baby! You're the oldest, so act like it!!" Minho said in a harsh tone. Right... he's the oldest and shouldn't act like a baby...The others grumbled in agreement with Minho's words, no one saw how hurt he was by the words, nor how his eyes glazed over. He covered up the whole situation by muttering "I just wanted to make Lixie laugh..."

Nobody paid him any attention... nobody except Lixie... Lixie who saw the pain as well as the tears in the eyes of his hyungie... more or less little brother... Lixie who, despite being -at the moment- four years old, noticed that Channie lied... and Lixie was the only one who had to watch as the first tears ran down Channie's cheeks as he stumbled away in silence. The mentally younger one looked after his Hyungie... what had become his little brother, until he turned away from his two caregivers and Hyungies and said, "I go play wit Channie." to waddled away without waiting for an answer.

The six looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Lixie knocked on the door as he should and waited, but when he got no answer and heard quiet sobs, there was nothing left of the four-year-old boy and he tore the door open. "Channie?" he said gently and speed walked to the bed, sat down in front of it and just started talking, not really knowing what to do. "Channie... those meanies are not here.. its just me, lixie.." He got up and slowly pulled the blanket off the presumably younger boy and with the broken expression on his face, tears also began to collect in his eyes. 

"Oh Channie.. Can Lixie hug you?" The other Aussie simply looked at the boy in front of him with big teary eyes and only then did Lixie realize that Channie was probably in baby space. He climbed into the younger one's bed and pulled him close to him as carefully as he could and held him tight to calm him down further, finding the pacifier from before which he pushed between his lips and waited to see what happened next. He noticed that Channie continued to relax in his arms until he started crying again. 

The six years old boy didn't understand what was going on until he saw the wet spot on the bed. "Oh Channie... shhh... it's okay.. Lixie will clean it up.." he said, wiping the tears from his face. He climbed out of bed and then lifted Channie out and walked as quickly as he could from the room to the bathroom to clean Channie, put a diaper and change him without the others noticing. 

The mentally younger boy was surprisingly calm the whole time and stared at Lixie in front of him. Every now and then he gurgled behind his pacifier, which made Felix a little relieved, even if he didn't really have any idea what he was actually doing and what he still had to do. In moments like this he wished he had one of the Caregivers or at least one of his Hyungies here, but the way his Min-Hyungie spoke to Channie, that option was gone. 

He let some water into the bathtub and undressed Channie. When he managed to do that, he lifted the younger boy into the tub again, with some difficulty, and looked for a rag to clean Channie. When that was finished, he left the baby in the hopefully warm water for a while and played with him until he whined. He got a large soft towel and spread it on the floor, then he let the water out and lifted the baby over the tub and laid him gently on the towel. He dried him off and fooled around with the towel, which made Channie squeal and gurgle. 

What didn't make sense to Felix at that moment was that Channie's loud squealing and gurgling could probably attract the other six caregivers because it didn't sound anything like himself. However, he had so much fun taking care of the baby that he completely ignored this thought and continued to concentrate on getting Chan into a diaper, because he never have to put someone in a diaper in his life. 

To his relief, his confused noises and facial expressions made Channie gurgle again, so he just carried on, unaware that one of the six caregivers was now standing at the bathroom door, watching everything with a gentle smile. Surprisingly, Felix also managed to get the diaper done correctly and was happy about it. Channie, who was lying on the towel, wriggled on the floor because he was imitating Felix's happy dance, just in baby style. 

"We could have done that, right Channie? Now we have to dress a certain little baby, huh?" Felix said, completely out of his headspace. He lifted Chan easily from the floor and just as he was about to leave the bathroom, he stopped his movements when he saw Hyunjin at the door frame. "How... How long have you been standing there?.." He asked the older one and held Channie tighter in his arms. "Long enough to see you and Lixie playing with Channie and fighting with the diaper.." Felix swallowed and looked at Hyunjin with wide eyes. 

How quickly he was back in his headspace was terrifying. It was even worse when tears formed in his eyes as he looked at his Jinnie-Hyungie in front of him. "Lixie..." Hyunjin tried but he shook his head. "Noo! Stay 'way! You meanie! You made Channie cry!!" Felix now sobbed and then, seconds later, Channie too. Without thinking twice, Hyunjin walked towards the two crying ones, he took Channie in his arms and held Lixie tightly on his other side. The others came running minutes later. Seungmin and Jeongin, Felix's main caregivers, took the boy in their arms and tried to calm him down. "Mommy..lixie change Channie?" 

At the mention of his name, Chan whined in Hyunjin's arms and there he was again in Felix's arms where they both finally calmed down and stopped crying. Without waiting for anything, Felix went away with Chan in his arms as if nothing had happened. The others looked at Hyunjin, who a few seconds later walked behind Felix only to see how the younger one was now dressing the baby, as he had already been struggling with the diaper before. The others followed and when they saw Lixie playing with Channie while he finished dressing him, their hearts melted. However, they all felt miserable because they had been so mean to Chan hours before, although there were all signs that he was a little too. 

From one second to the next, Felix was lying in Jisungs bed with Chan in his arms, sleeping soundly. Hyunjin looked at the two of them and then at the others, he had a worried look on his face and after his words, everyone was alarmed. "Channie hasn't eaten or drunk anything today and he's been crying so much." And as if on command, he cried again, waking Felix up, who looked confused between his hyungies, caregivers and the baby next to him. "Daddy.." he mumbled tiredly and was picked up by Jeongin. 

Hyunjin meanwhile picked up baby Chnnie and went into the kitchen, closely followed by Minho and then the others. "Hyun, go to the living room with him, I'll make him a bottle." And so Minho disappeared into the kitchen and Hyunjin into the living room. The others stood in the hallway and looked at each other knowingly, as did Little Lixie. "Mommy, Daddy? Jinnie and Min Dada and Mommy fo' Channie?" Everyone nodded and then went into the living room where Hyunjin was giving Channie the first bottle. After he had emptied them both, he fell asleep peacefully in Hyunjin's arms, just like Felix in his mommy's arms. Seungmin hugged his baby and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I'm so proud of you baby... you looked after baby Channie all by yourself... when you wake up later we'll all talk about it... except probably Channie." He whispered and placed his own head on Jeongins shoulder.

tbc.