Tiny captain

2

"So... any clues why hyung was acting weird earlier?" Jongho asked to his oldest hyung, still confused and concerned about the leader. It was 1:30AM and while the others were all fast asleep, oldest and youngest were in the living room, trying to figure out what was happening to Hongjoong.

"I have no clue Jong. I just brought him dinner and he started to act like a child would. He sat on my laps to eat for God's sake, we both know that's the last thing Hongjoong thing would do. Not to mention his excitement over a carton of chocolate milk" Seonghwa said exhasperated.

"Do you think Hongjoong hyung's sick?" asked Jongho.

"No, not sick. At least I don't think so. But something's definitely wrong" shook his head Seonghwa, making the younger hum and nod.

"We could search it up on the internet, maybe" suggested the maknae after thinking for a moment. Seonghwa agreed and ran to get his laptop, making sure to not make noise to not disturb anyone.

"He was sleeping with his thumb in his mouth Jong" told worriedly Seonghwa once he returned. Jongho was speechless.

"He WHAT?" whisper-shouted the youngest.

"Come on, the sooner we figure out what's happening with Hongjoong, the better it will be for everyone" encouraged Seonghwa opening his laptop and turning it on. In a matter of seconds the device started working.

"What should I write in the search tab?" asked the older hesitantly.

"Try 'adults acting like children' or something along the lines of that" suggested Jongho. "In the end, it's what's happening to hyung, right?"

Seonghwa agreed and typed quickly, ending up having an overwhelming quantity of links showing up, most of them from psychologists. Scanning them carefully, the two swiped down until they found something fitting.

Age regression was the topic brought up in that article. It was a psychologist writing about how it was a coping method used by a lot of people, even though not everyone realized they were using it.

"So it's essentially behaving like a child?" tried to understand Jongho after the two both finished reading the article.

"No, from what I understand it's not just that. It's more like entering a smaller age headspace, like if your mind got replaced with a baby's one. Phisically, it's still you, while mentally you are a child" tried explaining the older.

"Do you think Hongjoong hyung is doing it voluntarily or not?" asked the maknae.

"I honestly don't know Jong. Though it could be unvoluntary, now that I think about it. Maybe it has to do with some type of trauma" hypothesized the older.

"But hyung acts fine, if he really experienced anything traumatic his personality would've changed, at least a little" pointed out Jongho.

"Yeah, but maybe it happened when he was just a child, so his new personality is the one we see now. Could his family be connected to this in some way?" Seonghwa tried to connect the pieces.

"Now that I think about it, hyung never mentioned much his family" realized Jongho.

"What do you mean Jong?" asked Seonghwa.

"Remember that interview when they asked us which family member we were most close to?" Seonghwa hummed and nodded, encouraging the maknae to continue.

"Hongjoong hyung answered quickly that the members were like family to him and that he was the most close with you, so we thought he misunderstood the question and joked about it later. But hyung has been learning English the longest, and even we understood what the interviewer meant" remembered Jongho frustrated.

"You're right... and remember when we suggested to gather all of our parents so they could meet each other and Hongjoong panicked?" asked Seonghwa. Jongho quickly nodded.

"He said it would just be a waste of time and we shouldn't do it if we want to continue being famous" remembered Jongho, making the older continue.

"And the panick attack he had afterwards?" Seonghwa shuddered at the memory. It was surely the worst he had had until that moment.

"The one he claimed was provoked by the thought of not being with ATINYs anymore?" Seonghwa nodded, indicating they were remembering the same thing.

"I don't think that was the real reason" said Jongho, to which Seonghwa agreed. It was too strange to be true.

Just then, the clock in the living room made a small 'ding', making the two boys look at it. It now displayed 2AM, making them sigh.

"Now we should go to sleep hyung" suggested Jongho, just now realizing how tired he was.

"Yeah, we should. Well, at least now we know what's happening to Joong. Should we tell him what we found out though? And tell him we support him and accept him?" asked Seonghwa.

"No, I think that Hongjoong hyung will tell us himself if he wants to. In this group we're so close that there isn't much we keep secret from each other, so if hyung decided to not tell us, there must be a reason" reasoned Jongho, making Seonghwa nod.

"Alright. Go to sleep now Jong, it's really late" with this, the two wished each other goodnight and went to their respective room, falling asleep quickly.