Good Girl | Seokjin x Little!Reader ✓

Ch. 9 ✿ Research

The room was dim as Seokjin sat on the edge of his bed. Sighing, he continued to stare into his lock screen as his face reflected against the bright glow of his phone. His bedroom was uncomfortably quiet. The clock hanging on the wall ticked with each passing second, only to remind him how many minutes had passed without hearing from Y/N.

He wasn't worried about not getting a text for the sake of confirming a nice date, he just wanted reassurance that she was safe. He could hardly believe a father could treat his daughter the way he did. The image of the middle-aged man pulling Y/N up by her hair engraved itself in his memory. It pained him to think about it. All he wanted, more than anything, was to just know that she was safe and sound under the covers. But after so long of hearing nothing, he couldn't help but get worried. He knew she was locked in that house. Locked away with that horrible man. His mind wouldn't rest. And he couldn't help but feel responsible.

Racing from each scenario to the next, he realized he had driven himself mad with worry. He dropped himself back onto the bed, falling against the width of the neatly made sheets, the phone lay beside him.

After catching himself, he decided he needed to think of something- anything else that would cheer him up. The first image that came to mind was Y/N. He remembered her smile and the way her eyes glistened in the sunlight; her endless energy and her innocent laughter. He didn't notice, but the thought of her smile alone was enough to ease the ache in his heart.

Quietly, he laughed to himself, realizing how attached he already was.

He tried to remember what it was she was explaining to him in the car. The thing that kept happening when she began acting younger. Retracing his steps, he tried to replay her words in his head.

"Ah- she said it was called little space didn't she?"

Figuring he might as well learn more, he flipped over onto his stomach and unlocked his phone, typing the words into the search bar to click on one of the first websites that came up. A video of a woman in pigtails began. She wore a short dress and sat on her knees on the floor in front of a man who was slowly approaching her.

"Hmm, she might be a little... Maybe I can learn from this."

He turned up the volume and kept watching. But after a few more seconds before his eyes bulged out of his head. Realizing what he was actually watching, all the blood in his body rushed to his face and he frantically closed the tab.

For a moment he froze in silence, sitting in an awkwardly straight posture. With eyes wide, he looked behind him, making sure no one saw. With a strained exhale, he remembered he lived alone.

"That definitely wasn't what I was looking for," he said to himself. He shook his head to snap himself out of it and went to unlock his phone again. "Let's try again."

After some trial and error, he found a website that seemed helpful. It looked like a forum where littles were talking to each other and giving advice.

"Helpful hint!  If you're embarrassed to buy sippy cups or pacis, buy a baby shower card or a children's birthday card with it and no one will suspect a thing <_<"

"Awww!" Seokjin laughed at the weirdly wholesome advice. "I guess that is pretty helpful." He smiled, thankful to have found something comfortable to look at. He scrolled down to another post.

"Someone asked me the other day about how I started out in the community, but I lost the message so here's my reply to the lost comment (sorry!) ;-; When I was -biologically- young, I wasn't treated right by my uncle. He raised me after my parents passed away, but he wasn't doing any favors. He was disgusting to me. So when I finally became a legal adult and moved out, a huge weight was lifted off my chest. I guess that was when my brain said 'this is your chance at having a childhood!' so naturally, I started age regressing. My daddy plays the parent roll I need, too. To anyone else, it can look like a really weird way of living, but it makes me feel happy and fulfilled!"

Seokjin took a minute to look away from his screen, soaking in the stranger's story.

"So she's making up for the childhood she lost..." He nodded, mumbling to himself sadly. "Maybe childhood trauma..."

His voice trailed off as his mind was brought back to his memory of Y/N and her father, wondering if he was the one who put her through whatever it was to create the need to regress. She did say she used it to cope. His blood began to boil as he reread, unintentionally reading it in Y/N's voice. But he paused on the last sentence, confused.

"Daddy? Wait- didn't her parents both pass away?"

He sat there confused, crinkling his forehead. Giving up, his eyes drifted down to the next post below.

"I asked my boyfriend if he would be my daddy and he said yes!!!  FU biological father!!!! He'll show you how its REALLY done!"

Boyfriend? Seokjin's face burnt red and he sucked in his lips, rereading the post.

"Oh," he whispered. "Well, I guess that answers my question."

But wait... Then that must mean...

Seokjin's eyes darted around the room as the gears in his brain began to turn. Everything had suddenly become much, much more complicated.

He thought about the way Y/N ran around the playground with him and the way she cheered herself up at work with the children's toy. He remembered the giggles that escaped when he praised her, the obedience as she waited to be given the toy he bought and, finally, the power her father had exposed himself of abusing.

One thing connected to another and it all began to make sense.

He swallowed.

She must want me to take the place of her father.

His heart began beating harder than ever. Did he really deserve that kind of trust? His head filled with self-conscious thoughts and he wondered if he wouldn't be good enough to give her the kind of love she needed. It was so much to try to understand on his own. A part of him wished he could ask Y/N to teach him, but his pride got in the way of the dumb impression that threatened to come out of asking her so much. He rubbed his hands down his face and slowly took a deep breath, exhaling some of the tension.

Dropping his hands to his lap, his eyes landed on Strawberry, who sat on his bedside table, waiting to be delivered back to Y/N. He took it in his hands and slowly pet its soft fur. Once again, his memory flashed back to the scene with her father. In that moment, all he wanted was to protect her. But now, he wasn't certain he could.

Am I really going to be able to do this?

Suddenly his phone began to ring. He jumped at the loud volume and reached for it. An unknown number. He picked it up.

"Hello?" His tired voice cracked through his emotions.

"Jinnie?"

Seokjin's breath froze. It was her. He recognized the same, little voice that echoed through the phone. His eyes softened at the sound of her innocent voice. But something about the sound tugged at his heart. She sounded scared. He hated himself for daring to consider a second thought.

This was his angel. His little angel!

He sighed in relief, leaving all his doubts behind. Every one of his stresses had melted away and remolded themselves into something new. A smile.

"There's my little girl."