Tiny captain

30

"Took your time" chuckled Seonghwa, serving some waffles to the latecomers.

"Maybe it's better if you tell the others too, just in case something like this happens again" mumbled San so only Yeosang could hear him. The boy nodded.

"I... have an announcement to make" Yeosang felt his anxiety rise, but forced himself to ignore it. Looking at the others' puzzled faces, he continued.

"I regressed last night, I don't know why but I did. It was confusing, but San took care of me. I'm fine now, I just thought I had to let you know to avoid future misunderstandings" said quietly the boy.

"Chu smaww?" came Hongjoong's voice.

"I was last night little one. I'm big now" explained Yeosang, feeling his cheeks redden slightly.

"Chu be smaww again?" Yeosang sighed, how could he explain it easily enough for the little to understand?

"Uhm... I didn't really enjoy it. I would prefer not to. But I don't know if it was a one time thing or if my mind decided that this will be my coping mechanism from now on. I would prefer taking care of you instead" Hongjoong, satisfied with the explanation, continued eating his food.

"Eat, you four. The waffles are already cold" the boys nodded and started eating, thanking the oldest for the food. Once they were all done, Hongjoong dragged the rest of the group to the living room, where he received gifts from all of the boys.

"The ones in red wrapping paper are for big Joong. You can open those later baby" said Yeosang, who had separated the presents to avoid the little accidentally breaking some fragile objects like a glass heart with the members' names on it written with acrylic paint, his own gift.

"'kay dada" nodded the little, focusing on the gifts wrapped in pastel colors wrapping paper, mesmerised by the colors. Pastel pink, lilac, sky blue... so beautiful!

Unwrapping the first gift, Hongjoong squealed seeing a brown bear onesie and a matching baby bottle.

"Like it petal? This was my gift. Read the letter too" smiled Jongho. Hongjoong looked at the envelope attached to the bottle and tore it open. Opening the card the little stared at it for a moment before looking back at the maknae, clueless.

"Too young to read?" asked quietly Yeosang, making the leader nod.

"That's okay. You can read all the cards later" Jongho smiled apologetically, observing the little shrug it off and open the next present.

"Shibew!" giggled the leader.

"Almost, baby. I love Shiber too much to just gift it away, but this is pretty similar" smiled kindly San, looking at the gift he chose for the little.

"Look at my gift minion, I bet it's the best. It's this here" bragged Wooyoung, holding out a huge soft package to the leader.

Quickly tearing apart the wrapping paper, Hongjoong squealed when he saw the lilac blanket in it. The gift was really perfect for the little, who loved to snuggle into blankets but only had the dorm's ones, which weren't exactly the softest, or cutest ones.

Hongjoong had to admit, Wooyoung's gift could actually be the best one. But first...

"I have my gift too" reminded Seonghwa, passing a small box wrapped with pastel yellow wrapping paper to the little.  Hongjoong gladly accepted it, quickly tearing off the paper to reveal a personal pacifier that the regressor recognized as the one the boys had bought a while ago during their last mall trip, but it was different. The older had personalized it for him. Now on the paci's shield one could read the words '8 makes 1 team' spelled out with letter beads. Plus, it had some sparkly stickers here and there, making the little smile widely.