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The first thing Yoongi noticed when he opened his eyes in the morning was the lack of bars surrounding him. Usually, when the sunlight slithered through the midway opened blinds and teddy bear curtains, Yoongi would tiredly open up his eyes to greet the day, and the first thing he would see was the pristine white wood of his crib around him, before the colours of his nursery eventually became more bright and the few stuffed animals tucked warmly beside him would smile.
However, this time there were no bars. At the end of the bed, and each side, were two white safety bed rails covered with soft netting. They were only small ones; Yoongi would be able to climb over them if he gathered enough strength, but he didn't exactly feel like moving.
The second thing he noticed was the numbness of his tongue. It wasn't sore, maybe just a little if he pressed hard enough on the roof of his mouth, but it was better than the piercing pain he felt last night. Yoongi didn't seem to remember much of what happened afterwards.
And he was glad. Yoongi of course remembered crying, it hurt. But he didn't remember how badly he cried. It was probably an embarrassingly loud and messy. Tears, snot and saliva. He couldn't bare to look at his captors after they changed his nappy even after a few hours, so how could he face their friends, kind, cheerful Jimin and mysterious muscle rabbit Jeongguk?
Another thing he also remembered was how he burnt his tongue. On some meat fed to him by Daddy's careless hands.
It seemed Daddy had hurt Yoongi one way or another recently. Yoongi had tried his best to forget about the incident with his kidnapper's mother, that snarky old beast, and the moment Daddy had claimed him to be special needs and requiring diapers, except whenever the thought popped up, the emotional hurt carved deep inside of him stung and he didn't know why.
In fact, a wave of emotions hit Yoongi at once whenever the memories popped up. Anger, betrayal, sadness, and Yoongi was sure loneliness was squeezed in there somewhere. Scrounging the energy to sit up with a few grumbles of determination, something fuzzy and familiar beside him caught his eye.
"Bear!" Tiny arms reached forward and Yoongi enveloped the soft toy, the scent of fresh lemon-basil hitting him immediately. A gasp elicited from the young boy's mouth when his mind registered the words he had unwillingly yelled. He had had no intention to speak in that moment yet he had squealed out the teddy's name like an excited toddler. Yoongi scowled when he recognised what he did but kept Bear in his arms, neck snapping up when footsteps echoed outside the bedroom, getting louder and closer until the head of Appa peeked in, dimples and all.
"Good morning, angel. Did you sleep well?" the man asked, walking over to the cutesy bed. Yoongi shrugged and fiddled with the red clean bow around Bear's neck. "How's your tongue, baby? Can Appa see?"
Shyly, Yoongi lifted his knees up and placed Bear in front of his face, successfully hiding it. He heard the rumbling chuckle from the adult followed by the quiet sound of drawers opening and closing. The familiar crinkle of a clean nappy made Yoongi peek.
