MINHO/JISUNG—

   Jisung was fumbling with the flaps of a cardboard box, trying to wrestle them all into some kind of closed-ness without going through the hassle of taping it up for all of the ten, fifteen minutes that it'd take to drive it over to his house.

   "I think I got it!" he beamed, only to be sorely disappointed, smile and posture falling slack, when Chan showed up with a sippy cup he'd unearthed while double-checking his room for Minho's things.

    Minho sat off to the side, watching them silently, playing with the cuffs of the sweater Jisung had transferred to him earlier (because Jisung knew he liked how it smelled and how it came to his knuckles to give him sweater-paws). Somehow one of the cuffs had made its way to his mouth at some point, and he'd been sucking on it anxiously as Jisung and Chan had taken things that had accumulated in this house over the past two years and fit them into the box.

   He was leaving.

    Minho had a new caregiver now; the next logical step would obviously be to change the place he was taken care of to his new caregiver's house. Thus, almost as soon as Minho and Jisung had gotten to Chan's house this Saturday morning, Jisung and Chan had gotten to work packing up the onesies, the ponies, the pacifier... everything Chan had gotten him— everything he'd worn and played with here. With Chan. Hyungie. 

    In Chan's words, Jisung had "graduated caregiving school", so now there was no need for the pair of them to stick around. (That last part was implied.)

   All Minho's attention had been on Jisung recently; once he'd been made sure of the fact that Jisung wasn't perturbed by the existence of his childish headspace, he'd clung to Jisung with a passion and soaked up every bit of attention his new caregiver gave him, hardly even sparing a glance towards Chan. After all, he'd been wishing for this for so long, how could he do anything else? But when the realization finally hit that Chan wouldn't always be around anymore...

   Chan and Jisung were absorbed with the box situation as Chan tried to teach Jisung the right way to fold the flaps to shut it temporarily but securely— but both their heads shot up at the sound of a badly muffled whimper. Both of them had the instinct to get up right away, but Chan pushed it down, as he'd gotten used to the past several weeks, while Jisung went about scooping up a teary-eyed Minho without hesitation, asking him what was the matter.

   Surprisingly, Minho reached for Chan.

   "Hey, bug, why're you crying?" Chan questioned, while Jisung eased the little into the oldest boy's lap. But it only made it worse, because Minho started to sob at the nickname. 

     But the only thing that came out of Minho's mouth that wasn't completely unintelligible was the word 'hyungie'.

   This was the first time Jisung figured out what was wrong before Chan. Something just clicked faster for him than it did for Chan, he guessed.

   "Oh, hyung, I think I get it." He knelt beside Chan and ran a soothing hand down his little's back, shushing vigorously and encouraging a deep breath, before he made an attempt: "Hey, baby, listen, are you upset because you'll miss Channie hyung?"

   Minho nodded shakily, his head knocking against Chan's chest.

   Jisung and Chan both cooed at that; Chan held Minho a little tighter, in a 'you'll be alright' sort of way. Chan, too, had seemed a little down this morning, but he'd seemed a lot more resigned to the inevitability of it.

   Jisung pulled on a reassuring smile, channeling all the comforting energy he'd been trying to adopt for himself while observing Chan, and (perhaps just as much for Chan as for Minho) said, "We'll come over to play with Channie hyung all the time, okay? He can still be your caregiver, too, yknow."

   He watched the desperate hold Minho had on Chan loosen; saw Minho's teary eyes light up, big and shiny and glossy as they looked at him to say 'really?'  And, Jisung saw Chan's lips turn up; there was relief now as he looked down at Minho. 

   What, did everybody think Jisung was gonna hog cry-your-eyes-out-adorable Little Minho like a cliche, possessive boyfriend? 

(...Well, maybe the thought had crossed his mind for a split-second.)

  Jisung gave a guilt-riddled sigh as he realized that he'd just assumed his little was on board with this. "I'm sorry, honey, I should've talked to you about this first," he admitted.  Last night, they'd finally had a chat about Jisung's actual role as a caregiver, and Minho had given him the go-ahead to tell him authoritatively to eat, to sleep, the like, when he was regressed. But this? This wasn't a decision that Jisung should've made for Minho.

   Chan gave a hum of agreement— it was partly his fault; he at least should've known to remind Jisung. Maybe he'd been a bit caught up with being bummed that it was time for Minho to move on; maybe he'd misunderstood Minho's infatuation with Jisung and hadn't realized it wasn't all-consuming.

  Jisung reached out to thumb Minho's cheeks dry and gently brush the wet strand of hair away from his eye. "Do you even want to move to my house, baby?" He modulated his tone carefully, neutral and soft as he could manage, in hopes of keeping it from influencing Minho's answer.

   Minho looked between the two of them for a moment— one glance at Chan, then one at Jisung; back to Chan again— and in a timid, wobbly whisper, confirmed, "We... w'll still see Hyungie lots?"

   "All the time, right, hyung?" Jisung grinned.

   "All the time, bug." Chan ruffled Minho's hair, and it finally got the little to flash a fraction of a smile.

   Then Minho finally nodded at Jisung.

  ~~~

    Chan had ended up coming with them to Jisung's house to get Minho's two boxes of little space stuff unpacked, and it did make Minho feel a bit better, and it helped him settle in a little easier, but he was still a little teary when Chan left at the end of the day. He didn't feel like doing much at that point, so Jisung turned on a movie for them to watch and snuggled up to his little on the couch.

   Halfway through, Minho was dozing at his side (falling asleep easily because it was the weekend). When his breathing changed, Jisung glanced at his closed eyes with a smile and eased his phone out of his pocket. He'd sent a quick picture to Chan, and captioned it 'thanks, hyung :'), because Chan was the reason he now had this bundle of joy so close to him. Like Minho, though, he felt a little bad about leaving Chan, and wondered if he'd be lonely now that they probably weren't going to be spending every other night at his house. So he followed it up with a 'you sure you're alright with this? you looked pretty down today, too.'

    Not feeling inspired to finish the rest of the movie when, the whole time, he'd been paying more attention to carding his fingers through Minho's hair than to whatever was happening on-screen, Jisung just gathered the little into his arms, letting him sleepily wrap his arms around his neck, and carried him to his room. He'd gotten a lot better at carrying Minho around lately. Really— his arms hardly even shook by the time they made it to the edge of his bed.

   Jisung laid Minho down, gently guiding his little's head all the way to the mattress, thumbing over his cheek fondly as he brought his hand out from under his neck. Before he had entirely pulled away, though, Minho reached out and grabbed at his hand with his desperate, wet eyes that begged and pleaded Jisung not to leave him. 

   "Aw, honey..." Jisung found himself immediately melting down onto the bed beside Minho. He remembered what Chan had told him earlier today; his last lesson.

   "No matter how much he cries or fusses, just... please don't ever make him feel like a burden. Don't ever make him feel like he's too much... like you're going to leave him."

   "I'm here," Jisung assured, lips pressing against Minho's temple as he wrapped him snugly in his arms. This was the same boy who had always rolled his eyes at Jisung's every attempt at affection. The same boy who would never accept having Jisung's arms around him; who always refused the idea of falling asleep next to him... and all because he'd been afraid that Jisung wouldn't want him if he was genuine. If he was just himself— someone who wasn't always very tough at all. Someone who needed to be cared for now and then. 

   But Jisung wanted him. He did. Minho was his little darling, in or out of littlespace. Every day, every time Minho looked at him with those eyes, the ones that weren't hiding anything anymore, the ones that were just happy and real, Jisung knew, he wanted him. He wanted to stay. With his eyes falling shut as he held Minho close, quietly, Jisung added,  "Sungie loves you, baby." 

   ...Whoops. That just... slipped out.

   He'd never said that to Minho before; Minho had never said it to him. Until this month, Jisung hadn't even been sure their relationship would work out at all, not with how closed-off Minho had been. Things like "I love you"s and first kisses had seemed far off until recently, but now they seemed to be coming naturally— too naturally, it seemed. Jisung had gotten so carried away with the fact that his heart was steadily filling with more and more admiration for Minho that he forgot it was supposed to be special when he first said the words. It wasn't supposed to come out as easily as that. Right?

   "Minnie wants t'be big," a tiny, no-longer-sleepy voice replied.

   Immediately, Jisung froze; wondered if he'd messed up. Minho had never said this before, and it got Jisung worrying that he'd made him uncomfortable by saying that. Maybe Minho didn't want the first "I love you" said between them to have been while he was little. Heck, maybe Jisung didn't want it to have been said while he was little.

   "Oh— Okay, um... can I help at all?"

   Minho shook his head quickly, slipping away from Jisung.

   For the next fifteen or so minutes, Jisung sat alone with his face twisted in regret, head thrown back against the pillows, mouthing something along the lines of stupid, stupid, stupid. During that time, Jisung heard the sink turn on with its water gushing; heard silverware clatter against each other. It distracted him for a moment, made him chuckle: Minho was doing dishes. But then he was back to worrying again. Wasn't it weird that he'd said that? Really, really weird?

   The strange thing was that, had Chan— Minho's friend— been the one to say that, it would've been totally fine, right? But for Jisung? As Minho's boyfriend, was it weird for him to say he loved him— little him?

   Soon after Jisung heard the dishwasher click shut and start to run, Minho rushed back into the room with the bashfully pressed lips and flushed cheeks he was always afflicted with after having come out of little space, and with traces of wrinkles decorating his tensed brows due to the headache he'd given himself with the effort. "I—" he started, hugging the door frame, stopping himself as he seemed consider it might be better to come closer first. His steps were clumsy, so he was half-stumbling, but that was due to his haste rather than his headspace. Jisung could tell Minho was big right now.

   He dropped onto the bed next to Jisung and hesitated a moment— in which Jisung held back the urge to brace for impact— then let the words tumble out of his mouth: "I love you too."

   Jisung's body caved in a huge sigh of relief, but he straightened up again to say the next urgent thing that came to his mind. "Wait, wait, let me say it again. Different."

   Looking at Minho now, Jisung realized it really was different. When he'd said it before, it'd been pure admiration. It'd been gratefulness that Minho was willing to show himself so vulnerable, and care that Jisung gave back in return. It was I'll stay with you, I'll protect you.

It'd been easy; a given. A peacefully reached conclusion. Jisung cherished this side of Minho, his vulnerability itself.

   And when he looked at him now, there was still admiration, but there was excitement— traces of butterflies in his stomach that had been there for their first kiss, their first date, their first time holding hands. There was attraction when he looked at Minho now, and it was different because he was different. Maybe it wasn't as drastic a change as it was for Minho, but Jisung felt something in him shift, too, when Minho came in or out of his headspace.

   So he said it differently. "I love you, Minho."

   In every kind of way. Sometimes it'll feel different; sometimes I'll look at you different, but at all times... I love you.

   By the way Minho's breath hitched, he felt the difference. It was as if Jisung had just said it for the first time, again... because in a way, he had.

   Minho made a quick move to grab at each of Jisung's hands and pull him over his chest as he laid flat on the bed. It was everything he'd ever needed.

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i struggled sooooo much to balance the caregiving side and the dating side without making it creepy... so i hope i managed to do it in a way that didn't weird anyone out lol, i gotta say i liked this oneshot more in theory for that reason. but i wanted to follow through anyway, and im proud to say i finally finished an extended oneshot series for the first time hahah

i hope you enjoyed it :3

the end.

JUST KIDDING HEHE TAKE THIS TEENY BONUS SCENE!

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   Sighing to himself as he leaned back against his own otherwise empty couch, Chan sat alone and looked at that picture with a bittersweet smile. Minho really looked at peace with his cheek squished against Jisung's side, and the boy's hand tangled in his hair. He felt a bit ridiculous when he realized he'd teared up a bit, and, looking around to see empty spaces where he used to keep Minho's things, he wondered, is this how parents feel when their kids pack up and move out? He felt like he was acting like one of those overly sentimental, doting moms once their 'baby's grown up and gone off to college or gotten married. So he chuckled at himself a little, shook his head, and reminded himself, just as he'd reminded Minho earlier, they'd still see each other around.

   Did his heart ache a little to think that he'd been replaced? That, even if he was still Minho's caregiver, which was more than he'd been expecting, he wasn't his main caregiver anymore? Perhaps. But not so much when he realized that Minho and Jisung fit together perfectly; Jisung really was the one for him, and it wasn't so much that Chan hadn't been enough as it was that he hadn't fit quite as well.

...Because maybe he fit someone else a little better.

   His bittersweet smile swapped for a more content one as he replied with: 'Don't worry about me, Ji. I'll miss him, but... I might have my own little one pretty soon.'

   Having sent that message, he scrolled down in his contacts list to the text thread he'd last had open, his cheeks hiking up as he looked at the name: 'Innie'.

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okay that's fr the end goodbye