Today was dance practice, reminded Wooyoung, earning five groans and a whine from Hongjoong. The leader was regressed and even though he enjoyed dancing, he knew the members usually practiced with blasting music, something the little hated.
"Don't worry petal, we'll keep the music as low as we can" reassured Jongho, noticing the frustrated look on Hongjoong's face. The leader cheered up a bit hearing this, looking forward to the day a bit more.
"Shouldn't Seonghwa be there today too?" pointed out San, making Mingi look up from his toast slice.
"Yeah, he can talk to Joong today, we just have to stay close by" answered the younger.
"MAMA" shouted the little, upset because the others would talk about him as if he wasn't in the same room as them.
"Yeah, your mama" muttered Jongho, still annoyed at Seonghwa.
"Indoor voices baby" reminded Yeosang, making the little huff but apologise.
"Well, let's get going now" exclaimed Wooyoung, seeing how everyone was already done with their breakfast.
The drive to the company was uneventful, but when the seven boys arrived to the building they saw Seonghwa looking at his phone, already in his practice clothes, holding a small paper bag. As soon as the oldest noticed the van pull up in front of him he looked up to hopefully see the leader.
"Dada, can I go see mama pwease?" begged Hongjoong looking at Yeosang, who looked at the others before nodding quietly.
"Mama" Seonghwa got the air knocked out of him when Hongjoong threw himself at him, but quickly caught his breath and greeted the little.
"Hey baby, did you behave with hyungies?" Hongjoong nodded.
"Why chu nuh at home mama?" asked the little, making Seonghwa sigh.
"Mama did a big mistake, but he realised that was wrong and now wants to make it up to you" smiled the older, passing Hongjoong the small bag he was carrying.
"Wha's dat?" asked the little curiously, tilting his head.
"It's for you, open it" Seonghwa smiled as Hongjoong's eyes lit up, seeing a bunch of sweets and candy in the bag.
"Dada dada! Wook! Mama hab candy fow Joongie!" Yeosang chuckled seeing the little running back to him to show the content of the bag.
"Wow, that's so much candy! What do we say now minion?" reminded Yeosang, making Hongjoong widen his eyes and run back to Seonghwa, hugging him and muffling a 'thank you' in his shirt.
"You're very welcome little one. Let's get to the practice room now, hm?" Seonghwa took the little's hand and guided him towards their dance room. Jongho followed the two, staying close to them as he still didn't fully trust the oldest. The others were behind the trio chatting, knowing the maknae could easily prevent Seonghwa from doing anything harmful to the regressor.
When the eight boys arrived, they began to stretch, Wooyoung helping Hongjoong as the little got frequently distracted by every little thing.
"Hey minion, look at hyungie, he's explaining what you have to do" reminded Yeosang. Hongjoong didn't seem to hear what his caregiver was saying as he was still zoned out, eyes glued to the window without really seeing it.
"Petal, what's wrong?" everyone stopped warming up at Jongho's panicked tone.
"His chest is not moving, he's not breathing" murmured Wooyoung, worried.
"What if we try touching him in some way? Could that bring his mind back here?" asked anxiously San.
"Is that linked to any trauma?" even though Jongho didn't really wanna talk to Seonghwa, he had to bring the leader back to reality, and since the oldest was the only one who knew what Hongjoong had gone through in his past, the maknae had no choice but to ask him, putting Hongjoong's well-being at the first place no matter what.
"No... just be careful" shook his head Seonghwa.
"Alright" mumbled Jongho, approaching the leader carefully, wrapping his arms around the small frame. Hongjoong immediately reacted, accidentally hitting the maknae in the stomach. Though Jongho winced, shutting his eyes, he didn't let go of the other boy, who realized the person hugging him wasn't the bad man but his papa.
"Sowwy papa" whispered the little, eyes filling up with tears.
"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it. It's fine petal, I promise. Papa promises" Hongjoong nodded, not convinced.
The rest of the day was quite eventful to say the least. Everything went well for the rest of the morning, until the group went out for lunch. They decided to go to a ramen place not far from the company building, which was also Hongjoong's favourite restaurant. However the little decided he didn't want to eat, shaking his head no and refusing to open his mouth whenever one of the others tried to feed him. That was the strange thing. Since the incident, Hongjoong hadn't spoken a word, only replying with a nod or a head shake whenever someone asked him a question.
"Come on minion, eat something for papa" sighed Jongho, holding out a piece of meat for the little. However, Hongjoong had enough.
"NUH WANNA!" Hongjoong slapped the maknae's hand making the food land on the floor together with the chopsticks. Some other customers turned their way, curious about what was happening. But one glare from San was enough to convince them to continue their meal.
"Okay, that's enough. We're going" decided Jongho, standing up. The others copied the maknae's actions, not wanting any scandals. No one helped Hongjoong grab his belongings, and no one bothered waiting for him. Seonghwa paid for their meal but left right after, while the little struggled to grab his coat from the coat hanger near the entrance of the restaurant. A waiter helped him, earning a soft 'thankies' from the boy.
"You're welcome little one. Here, have a candy" the waiter smiled kindly as he offered a lollipop to the little.
"Thankies" muttered Hongjoong, now busy opening the treat.
"Here, let me do it for you. Can I?" the waiter gently grabbed the candy from the little's hands to open the wrapper.
"Here you go. Get back home safe" the waiter waved goodbye, making Hongjoong mirror his actions. But the other boys were nowhere to be seen.
Nice man towd me go home, so Joongie has to go home, thought the little, barely mentally old enough to even walk. The anger in his papa's eyes, the nice voice of the waiter and the lollipop were making Hongjoong feel smaller every second that passed, but not wanting to upset his hyungies even more, the boy started to walk towards their dorm, unaware that the others were heading back to the practice room.
After 20 minutes though, the little was about one year old, and just wanted to cry. His feet hurt, but if he didn't continue walking, his dada and papa would be mad. Unable to continue any longer, he sat on the nearest bench and cried until he fell asleep.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Please don't hate the others for leaving Joongie at the restaurant, as inexperienced caregivers they just thought it would be a harmless but effective punishment for his acting out
As you may have noticed, some personal experiences of mine are in this book, portrayed by the characters, such as Hongjoong feeling guilty even after the others assured him it was fine or getting distracted/zoning out easily. In my opinion this makes the book a bit more realistic (this is still a ff y'all remember pls) so you can try to find things the members do that you relate to too ig 🤷
Have a drink. Have a snack/a meal. Do something you enjoy doing. Have fun doing it. Exactly in this order. (I love to do lists, i forget shit too often so this will be useful to me too)
Love you all, see you in the next one!
~Nabi
YOU ARE READING
Tiny captain
FanfictionHongjoong has been slipping unvoluntarily since that day. It's not a thing that he can control and it's not a thing that he plans on telling his members. Absolutely not. But telling them is not the only way they'll discover this part of him. Warning...
