"Do you want some more, Ba Reum?" Chi kook's mum asked, already ladling another spoonful of food on his plate before he could answer, "you're looking so skinny. They're working you to the bone at that school,"
"Police need to have a good condition," Ba Reum said, secretly having been eyeing the food and wondering if it would have been rude to ask for seconds.
"That's true, and how is it going?" the woman asked, listening to Ba Reum talk about the school, trying to be positive even though one of his teachers was a horrible man. He had never expected to have his old PE teacher an instructor there, and the man clearly remembered Ba Reum.
And the fact that he had been fired by a series of incidents, one of which was not letting Ba Reum go to the toilet when he asked, and the very embarrassing memory of pooping himself at school.
Thanks to Chi kook and Dong Koo, it had escalated, and more complaints came up from littles who had to beg to go and had to suffer through several insults afterwards.
At least his friends had stood behind him, even though they hadn't known he was a little back then and had believed the excuse that he was ill.
Ba Reum could still remember being called 'poopy pants' by the teacher though, a nickname he was now using at the police school.
"Dong Koo said he talked to you about getting a caregiver," Chi Kook said, trying to seem casual.
"Ah, yes, he did," Ba Reum said, trying to not feel to feel embarrassed. He didn't really like talking about his headspace with his friends, scared that he would betray a little too much about it. He still barely could wrap his mind about the fact that they haven't left him.
"And?" Chi Kook asked while Ba Reum shoved some more food in his mouth, trying to stall.
"Well, I inscribed in the little agency," Ba Reum said slowly, feeling apprehensive, "and I got an appointment with a caregiver this weekend,"
"You do? That's wonderful," Chi Kook said, looking a little relieved. He had been worrying a lot about his friend. The way he actively seemed to avoid acting on his headspace and resisted every mention of going into headspace near him, was enough to make him feel pity.
The fact that there wasn't a single toy at his home-made Chi Kook believe that even if Ba Reum spend some time in headspace, it can't be very satisfying at all.
"I guess," Ba Reum said, still not feeling entirely sure about it all. He had it all under control himself, and brining a stranger into it seemed to just unbalance him and he didn't know if he wanted to go on with it.
"I bet it's going to be great," Chi Kook said, still smiling, and Ba Reum could do nothing but nod and silently eat his meal while Chi Kook and his family talked about how good it would be for him.
"Something wrong with the prosecutor?" Moo Chi asked his colleague, who looked up from the file.
"You mean Ji?" Ha Neul asked, and Moo Chi nodded, "why?"
"He just slammed his door so hard, a picture fell down from the wall," Moo Chi said, looking worried.
"Mmh, don't know what it is," Ha Neul said, "but best keep our heads down,"
"Ah, right," Moo Chi said with a wince, making Ha Neul raise an eyebrow.
"No," the man said, looking at Moo Chi who tried his best to look innocent, "what did you do?"
"Nothing bad bad. I mean, I got the warrant..." Moo Chi said.
"When?" Ha Neul asked, and Moo Chi shrugged, "god, is he going to find out?"
"Don't think so," Moo Chi said, just when the door of the prosecutor's office opened and Ji stood there, a thunderous look on his face.
"Detective Ko!" He said, his voice raised, and several people were looking at him in alarm, "my office, now,"
"Drat," Moo Chi muttered, before putting a small smile on his face and going to the man, "ah, prosecutor, what a nice coincidence to see you on such a fine morning,"
"I wouldn't call it a coincidence," Ji said, glaring at Moo Chi "or a fine morning,"
"Oh well, to each their own," Moo Chi said, shrugging and going in the office, taking the place in front of the desk like he usually did, trying to talk himself out of the problems he created.
The prosecutor seemed to be in a bad mood, but he wasn't unreasonable, for which Moo Chi was very grateful.
"Next week, an extra 'regulations and why we have them' meeting will be set up, and I want you to present it," Hyuk said, and Moo Chi looked at him in shock.
"Me?" the detective asked, knowing that it was hated meeting, all detectives thinking it was just a waste of time and resources.
"Yes, you," Hyuk said, "it needs to be at least half an hour,"
"Half an hour!" Moo Chi said in horror, "seriously, this is such a school assignment,"
"Well, you do remind me of an unruly student," Hyuk stated, "have fun,"
"Fun?" Moo Chi asked, his voice high pitched, and seeing the face of the prosecutor almost smile. It was almost shocking that the man found this amusing.
"Yes, fun. I'll even give you a smiley sticker if you do well," Hyuk said, "you can go now,"
"A smiley sticker he says," Moo Chi muttered while he got up from his chair, making sure that it was standing slightly displaced before going to his desk.
"So, still alive?" Ha Neul asked, seeing the shell-shocked look on Moo Chi's face.
"He gave me homework. I have to do a presentation," Moo Chi said, and Ha Neul started to laugh.
"You, a presentation? And who are the poor sods that will have to listen to you?" Ha Neul asked.
"You guys. It's a safety regulations meeting, next week," Moo Chi said, and Ha Neul stopped laughing.
"No, not one of those," the man said, "what have you done to us, Moo Chi, seriously,"
"Well, at least I don't need to suffer on my own," Moo Chi said, suddenly feeling a little better.
At least there were other people who would get it even worse than him. Perhaps he could manage to get several jokes in, a few references to his earlier interactions with the prosecutor.
"Ten bucks if I manage to make the prosecutor crack a smile," Moo Chi said.
"Deal," Ha Neul said, "that man doesn't smile, so it's an easy tenner for me,"
"Something wrong?" Tae Il asked when his friend grumpily was waiting for his shake after his work out.
"Why would there be something wrong?" he groused, not looking at his friend.
"I just got this feeling," Tae Il deadpanned, "come on, you can tell me? Got stood up for a date?"
"Not a date," Hyuk said, looking down at his hands.
"Then, a little?" Tae Il said, and seeing his friend deflate, he knew he had guessed correctly, "what happened? You did something wrong?"
"I didn't do a thing," Hyuk said, "that's the entire problem."
"You'll have to elaborate a little before I can help with my wise words," Tae Il said, making Hyuk snort.
"I went to three different little agencies. Got through the whole inscribing and interview process, only to hear that 'no sorry, sir, no littles with appropriate headspaces here,'" Hyuk said, his voice almost mocking.
"Really?" Tae Il said, "it shouldn't be so difficult to find a baby,"
"You would think so," Hyuk muttered, his arms crossed, before deflating, "I knew they were rare, but I just didn't think it would be this difficult,"
"Well, it's only been a couple of weeks," Tae Il said, trying to cheer his friend up, "before you know it, you'll encounter the perfect little for you, and you'll be a doting caregiver that will be overbearing and overprotective,"
"Right, you make it sound so positive," Hyuk said, grumpily, before a little bit of hope came on his face, "you really think so though? Just give it a bit more time,"
"Yeah. I mean, it's like finding a partner. It's not always the first person you encounter, you have to wait and before you know it, you'll find that special someone," Tae Il said, hoping that he wasn't telling lies. His friend really deserved to have his special someone.
Ba Reum nervously pressed the bell of the apartment, waiting until a man finally opened up. He was about half a head smaller than Ba Reum and looked at him with a frown.
"Yes, can I help you?" the man asked.
"Hi, I'm Ba Reum. The little agency told you I was coming?" he said, secretly hoping that he wasn't informed, and he could just go home.
"Oh, right. I'm Suk Won," the man said, a smile appearing on his face, "sorry, you look different than I would imagine. Quite tall for a little, aren't you,"
"Yeah," Ba Reum said, stepping inside the place. It was not extremely clean, shoes lingering near the door, and from where he was standing, Ba Reum could see several dusty shelves.
"Please, take off your shoes, and why don't we go to the living room, discuss a few things?" the man said, sounding nice enough. Carefully, he took off his shoes and put them perfectly next to each other.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Ba Reum asked, feeling awkward. The man smiled at him and patted his hands.
"Well, I suggest that you go into headspace for a couple of hours, and we kind of go with the flow," the man said, "got all kind of neat toys and games ready for your headspace,"
"Right," Ba Reum said, "we can do that,"
"Good. Now is there anything I need to know, any allergies or stuff?" the man said, clearly wanting to do his best.
"No, no allergies," Ba Reum said, swallowing nervously, "I go into headspace,"
"Please do," the man said, "I'll go grab us something to drink while you do that,"
Ba Reum nodded, taking in a few deep breaths while the man was rummaging in the kitchen. Concentrating, he let part of him slip down, trying to guide it to an older toddler's headspace and by the man returned with a glass of water, Ba Reum had a feeling that it worked.
"Hiya there," the man said, handing the glass to Ba Reum.
"Hi," Ba Reum said back, shy and quickly taking a sip from the glass, managing to spill some already.
"Oh, careful there. Don't want any spills," the man said, frowning a little, "I do expect you to be careful, so that we don't have a big clean-up,"
"Right, sorry," Ba Reum said, taking a bigger sip to proof that he could do it neatly before putting it on the table.
"That's okay. Now let's see, I got this awesome science kit, so let's do some experiments together," the man said with a smile, and Ba Reum nodded, smiling back, but feeling a little out of his depth while the man unloaded it.
It did have a lot of small parts, and it looked more complicated that Ba Reum liked. Trying to resist the urge to put his shirt in his mouth, he focused on the instructions the man was reading, not understanding all of them, but trying his best.
"Oh, need to go toilet," Ba Reum said in the middle of the experiment, already haven taken quite a while to get there seeing that he was doing everything he could wrongly. By now, the caregiver had started to get annoyed, his instructions becoming terser and terser.
"You can't go now, it's in a crucial phase," the man said dismissively, "here, pour this in there,"
"But..." Ba Reum said.
"No buts. Come on, quickly now," the man said, his voice strict, and Ba Reum quickly did what he was told, following the new instructions and forgetting about the buzzing of his watch when he was buried in the busy activity.
The first kit was soon ended, but the man took out a second one, looking enthusiast, and Ba Reum felt as if he had no other choice but to be happy as well.
"I have to go to the toilet," Ba Reum said again, feeling his watch buzz for a second time.
"Just a little longer, look, we're nearly there," the man said, concentrating on the instructions and guiding Ba Reum's hand. The ending result was colourful and pretty, and Ba Reum looked in awe at it.
"That's awesome," the little said, and the man grinned.
"Yeah, we did well. Here, I'll go get us a snack. Why don't you watch some TV. I think Pokémon is on," the man said, putting the television on said show.
Ba Reum sat in the couch and looked at it with disinterest, suddenly his eyes widening in horror when he felt his bladder release. He jumped up from the couch in a panic, just when the caregiver came back, stopping short and staring at Ba Reum, the look quickly changing to anger.
"What are you doing? Why didn't you just go to the toilet," the man said, putting the cookies he was carrying down, and going to Ba Reum, "look at my couch,"
"I'm sorry," Ba Reum said, feeling panic grip him, "I didn't mean to, I just forgot,"
"Well, I'll make sure you won't forget again," the man said, and suddenly Ba Reum felt himself being pulled over the lap, and without him able to do anything, he felt his pants being shoved down to his ankles and a first blow hit his bum.
He sat in shock at the hit, before starting to wriggle, which caused the caregiver to angrily raise his voice, and hit him harder.
It took quite a struggle before the man released him and shoved him in the corner.
"Fifteen minutes to think about what you think, seriously. My couch ruined," the man said, not even bothering to pull up Ba Reum's pants, and when Ba Reum wanted to do it, he stopped him, "no, let it down. Then I can see that you have been bad,"
The little felt shaken, a memory of his childhood coming up, about his stepfather spanking him and putting him on display like this. Almost like a shock, he went out of headspace, and he turned around.
"No," Ba Reum said, pulling up his pants, "no, I won't do that, and I don't want an abusive bastard like you to be my caregiver,"
"What did you call me?" the man asked in shock.
"I asked no corporal punishment," the little said, feeling uncharacteristically angry, not willing to put himself through this, "so no, I'm not going to stand here, being beaten like a dog. Goodbye,"
Before another word could be said, Ba Reum ran, uncaring about the wetness of his pants. The sun had set already anyway, and no one would really see it. Coming home, he felt stressed, and sank down on the ground crying.
One play date, and this had happened. He had been a bad boy, and it was clear that he had deserved what he had gotten, but he couldn't handle it.
"Better no caregiver at all," Ba Reum muttered, wincing when he felt his phone vibrate. Taking it, he was relieved that it wasn't the caregiver that called, but Chi Kook.
Wiping away his tears, he answered the phone.
"Hey Chi Kook, what's up?" Ba Reum asked.
"I just wanted to know how your first meeting went," the caregiver said, and Ba Reum fake smiled.
"It was great," he lied to his friend, already resolving to withdraw his application in the little agency and just pretend to his friends that he had a caregiver. That would be the easiest way.