Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Days passed. Days turned into two weeks. Each day was similar to the last. Oatmeal for breakfast, sometimes with a mushed banana, followed by a bottle of water, and gradually for other meals they introduced more solid foods, mostly green vegetables and fruit, light meat and one time plain spaghetti.
Yoongi had found every four days was bath time. It was still a struggle, but no where near as intense as the first time.
Through the days Yoongi had uttered only few words. Whenever he said something about going home, they simply sighed sympathetically and cuddled him, tried to distract him. So, in his own punishment for them, Yoongi ignored them when they asked him questions although that often backfired because for the very few times they gave him a choice that went unanswered, he was left with the choice he wouldn't of chosen (it was only trivial things, such as one fruit over the other or which outfit, but it still mattered to Yoongi).
Right now, though, Appa was dressed smartly one morning for breakfast. He was returning to work after two long weeks of staying home.
"Appa's going to miss you, sugar," he grinned handsomely, spooning a bit of cinnamon porridge up to Yoongi's welcoming mouth.
"Joon, you're going to get it all over your clothes," Daddy scolded lightly, strolling over and taking the spoon, affectionately thumbing away a drop of oatmeal by Yoongi's lips. Shaking his head playfully, he smiled. "It's like having two little boys instead of one."
In response, Appa began making funny faces to Daddy's back, trying to make Yoongi smile but the teenager simply picked his spoon up and ate.
For the most part, his mobility to do certain things had returned. Although not completely. His movements were always uncoordinated and jerky, like a real toddlers, but the majority of his strength had returned. Yoongi could eat by himself and grab things and move his arms. His captors were currently in the middle of encouraging him to crawl.
The worst thing he had found out was whatever they had used to mess his muscles up, it had messed with his... lower muscles. And no matter how hard he tried, Yoongi couldn't hold in his bladder. Whenever he used the nappy, he often had no idea he did so.
Daddy clicked his tongue. "You're going to encourage the baby, Joon," he spoke as if Yoongi was not there eating by himself. But the teenager was used to it and simply ignored it like most things. "Appa's being silly, pay no mind to him, honey," Daddy grinned, bopping Yoongi's button nose.
Yoongi scrunched his face up in distaste and moved away from the touch, swallowing his porridge.
Daddy sighed quietly and checked the clock, eyes widening, "And Appa's going to be very late if he doesn't leave now."
The teacher jumped up clumsily and grabbed his satchel, kissing his husband, murmuring a "love you" before pecking Yoongi.
"Appa will be home tonight. You have fun with Daddy, baby. Love you," he cooed, giving a big, wet kiss on the younger's burning cheek.
"Are you going to say bye bye to Appa?" Daddy tried. Yoongi knew he knew it was useless. He never did say "bye bye" nor did he ever call them by that name. Never. He never referred to them as anything.
Appa left with no response from Yoongi and Daddy cleared away the empty oatmeal bowl and wiped the younger's sticky hands and face clean, cooing at the cuteness of it.
"Messy baby," he teased gently, hoisting Yoongi from the highchair after removing the dirty yellow bib, tossing it in the laundry basket for later.
"I think we'll do something new today," he said happily with Yoongi on his hip. The dark haired boy stared uneasily. "Do you like to colour, Yoongi?"
Yoongi shrugged - it had become a habit when they asked questions, either that or silence - he'd never actually coloured before. Finger painting had only happened twice after the first time and Yoongi genuinely enjoyed that (he'd never admit it to his kidnappers), so doing other art related activities sounded nice.
"I think you will, baby. We've got lots of colouring books just for you, and you can pick any one you like." Daddy placed him down on the fluffy beanbag in the nursery and got the pastel blue chest out, shuffling around for a few seconds. His large hands emerged with several thick books and unopened packs of crayons, no felts or markers.
Yoongi eyed the items warily. Each book had a different theme. One was underwater, another was food, one was animals, and the last was sorely based on... Alice in Wonderland. Yoongi's eyes brightened. He hadn't heard that name in a long while.
"Do you want Daddy to pick one for you, sweetheart?"
That was one of the questions Yoongi would usually ignore, but now, Yoongi shook his head quickly (they'd cut his fringe days ago, it no longer poked him in the eyes).
"Oh? Which one do you want then, baby? You can pick any. They're all yours, my sweet boy," Daddy murmured, placing the four colouring books in front of Yoongi.
Yoongi pointed to the last one. "A-Alice..."
Daddy beamed as he spoke, Yoongi's first words in two days. He praised him enthusiastically for it and carried the art supplies (taking the underwater one for himself to colour and bond with Yoongi). They reached the dining table and Yoongi was strapped into his highchair with the tray removed, the opened crayons within his reach and the Alice in Wonderland colouring book placed in front of him easily.
"Daddy's going to colour Nemo. Do you like Nemo, baby?" Daddy asked, grabbing an orange crayon. They had watched it the other night and Yoongi did enjoy it until he found out bath time came afterwards. Not even the brand new Nemo bath toy they had to offer him helped calm his nerves.
But still, Yoongi made a noise in the back of his throat that could pass for a noncommittal hum and Daddy accepted it, subtly keeping his adoring eyes on Yoongi when he shakily grabbed a blue crayon for Alice's dress.
Yoongi quickly found out he certainly did enjoy colouring. Better than finger painting that always promised a bath afterwards. The crayons weren't messy and were easy to use (although he went over the lines a lot).
"That's it, you're doing it," Daddy praised. "We'll have to start buying more frames, hm?"
Yoongi shrugged. So far they had framed all three of his finger paintings and hung them up in the nursery side by side. The gesture was nice, no one had ever done anything like that for Yoongi before.
"You're much better at keeping in the lines than me, Daddy's doing a terrible job," the author chuckled. Yoongi refrained an eye roll and turned the page delicately, the Cheshire Cat's huge grin greeting him.
The original Cheshire Cat was not orange. But Yoongi coloured him in that way anyway, rather miserably.
"Is that the cat you painted last time, honey?" Daddy murmured, watching the younger colour shakily.
"Does the cat have a name ?"
Yoongi stopped colouring completely. Looking up, his large brown eyes met his captor's kind ones. Yoongi parted his trembling lips, tongue swiping over the bottom one quickly.
"M-My cat," he forced out, never breaking eye contact. "Dol-"
The doorbell rang loudly, stamping over Yoongi's words. The two of them jumped at the sudden interruption as curt knocks followed.
"Jin-ah? Unlock the door, for goodness sake, it's your mother."
