lessons in caregiving - minsung (extended oneshot)

hyungie, don't leave

CHAN —

   As mentioned before, Chan had assumed that, given a little time for them to settle in to their relationship and get to know each other better, when Jisung started dating Minho, he would become his new caregiver.

    However, things didn't go like Chan assumed they would. Nothing changed, except that Chan had been essentially helping Minho sneak around behind his boyfriend's back for the past two or three months to cover up his secret, 'cause yeah, 'hot', 'tough', 'bad boy' Lee Minho was too afraid to show his boyfriend this side of him. This was actually sometimes more disturbing for Chan than the thought of just not seeing Little Minho at all because he had a new caregiver.

    Despite the unease it put him in, Chan was currently doing literally just that. 

    "Hyung, I'm so nervous about tomorrow— like, what if I slip and then have to call off the date early— or what if I slip and DON'T call it off? Oh, heck— I—" Minho's panicked voice rang through the speaker of his phone as Chan pressed his lips together to hold in a wearied groan. If only Minho would listen to him and take his darn advice, they wouldn't be in this situation.

    The situation: Minho and Jisung made plans to go to the school's huge fall festival together this weekend (which would now be tomorrow afternoon) as a date, and after a nasty week of heavy, difficult classwork, and an uncomfortable party experience last night, Minho had reached his little-space-surpressing-limit and his stress was now through the roof, which would make spending the day out with Jisung quite a risk, if he wanted to keep his secret safe (and he very much did). The fact that he now was worrying about slipping unwillingly while he was out with Jisung was pure irony, because it made him a good five times more likely to actually slip. Plus, there were bound to be booths with plushies and toys and sweets at the festival that would make it so tempting for Minho to give in and let his little side take over.

    "Minho, calm down," Chan sighed. "Why don't you come over today and I'll help you slip so you're not as stressed, yeah?"

    "...You sure?"

    "Yeah. I don't have work today. Just come over. You know I miss your cute little butt."

    Minho snorted into the speaker, in a bashful, slightly flustered sort of way. "Okay, okay. I'm getting out of bed."

    "See you in a bit, bug," Chan concluded, a bit teasingly, because he knew the nickname would make Minho's eyes go big and shiny (even if he couldn't see), and it'd make him want to be little all the more. Truth is, 'bug' and 'little one' were pretty much the only pet names that Chan found he was still able to use for Minho now, because it just felt weird to call someone else's boyfriend 'baby', even if that boyfriend was a little and it probably didn't matter. Chan mostly just called Minho 'Minnie' at this point, when in the past he'd used oodles of cute nicknames and pet names for him, so now, any sort of pet name seemed to have a big impact.

   This time was no exception. As expected, Minho went quiet, then stuttered, "...Hyung, I-I have to drive. Don't call me that."

    "Want Hyungie to pick you up?"

    It was quiet for a good five or ten seconds, which was, once again, to be expected. Chan waited patiently— he knew Minho would take a minute, considering that he was just starting to slip, and was undoubtedly falling, falling, falling through the clouds in his head. Then, a smaller-and-sweeter-voiced Minho replied, "Yes, please."

    Most days, Minho would drive himself to Chan's, and then he'd slip for as long as he needed (which tended to be a few hours at a time), but if he was still too small to pull himself out of little space when it got late, he'd sleep over. It was no biggie for Chan, who had plenty of spare couch space and extra blankets. Today, though, Chan figured Minho might end up needing to be driven home (seeing as he was all wound up from fighting through a difficult, busy week combined with worrying about tomorrow and he might need longer to de-stress), since he should probably be home to get ready in the morning.