LITTLE BY LITTLE ☆ SVT AGERE

2.1

Wonwoo rouses from his nap slowly, blinking away his lingering grogginess and stretching out his limbs. The sticky stars on the ceiling cast the room in a soft green glow, and Wonwoo looks up at them with a smile, remembering when Mingyu insisted on putting them up for him. They're so pretty. Wonwoo loves to look up at them and imagine himself hopping from star to star on endless adventures.

He lays in bed for a few minutes, letting his thoughts wander and his headspace settle back over him. Just when he finally decides to get up and look for one of his hyungs, the bedroom door cracks open, the light from the hallway spilling into the room.

Mingyu peeps around the corner, grinning when he sees that Wonwoo is awake. "Knew you'd be awake," he says to himself, padding over to the bed. He isn't accompanied by one of their caregivers. Seungkwan-hyung will be mad at Mingyu coming to wake Wonwoo on his own. Wonwoo won't tell him, though, because Mingyu always takes care of him.

He holds his arms out, wanting to be held now that Mingyu is here. The older little happily complies, wrapping Wonwoo in his arms and squeezing the air out of his lungs with the force of his hug. He rakes his fingers through Wonwoo's hair, combing through the messy strands that had stuck out while he was asleep.

"Did you have a good nap, baby?" Mingyu murmurs to him, quiet despite them being alone in their room. The sincerity in his voice has butterflies fluttering in his tummy. He's always been Mingyu's baby.

"Was good," he whispers back. Talking hasn't been as hard today as usual, and it's easy when it's with Mingyu. He can be quiet and shy and Mingyu never has to ask him to repeat himself because he always hears him the first time.

"Good. I have a surprise for you~"

"Hm?" Wonwoo pulls away from his hug to look up at him. Mingyu knows he doesn't like surprises. "What is it?"

Seeing the younger regressor grow nervous at the idea of a surprise, he explains, "We have a visitor. Someone special!"

"Special?" Wonwoo echoes, but before he can give it any more thought, Mingyu hauls him off the bed and into his arms. He wraps his legs tightly around his waist with a surprised squeak.

Mingyu wastes no time in taking him back to the playroom. Wonwoo rubs his eyes to adjust to the bright lights in the hallway, laying his head on the taller little's shoulder. There's probably no more comforting thing in the world than being in Mingyu's arms, he thinks.

The playroom is noisy. Seokmin is already up from his nap and playing with the others. Wonwoo isn't sure what they're doing, but it involves a lot of laughing and screaming and it hurts his ears.

What kind of surprise is this? They've never had a special visitor before. It's always just been him and Mingyu.

But then Mingyu comes to an abrupt stop. He bounces Wonwoo in his arms for a moment before asking, "Are you ready to see?"

Wonwoo just whines, wanting for him to get on with it.

Mingyu turns around, and Wonwoo comes face-to-face with a familiar set of large, brown eyes.

"Cheollie-hyung!"

Seungcheol's expression breaks into a dimpled smile, relieved and excited that Wonwoo is happy to see him. He gives the little a shy wave and Wonwoo wiggles in Mingyu's hold, wanting to be let down because of course he's excited to see the kind hyung that visited them only a couple of weeks ago.

Other people had come to visit the home between his visits: A lady who seemed like she wanted a pet more than she wanted a regressor, who thought Wonwoo was cute but thought Mingyu was overbearing; a man who seemed like a nice person deep down but couldn't grasp why Wonwoo didn't immediately want to talk to him; even an ahjumma who brought them strawberries and read them a picture book while giving all the characters different silly voices.