Jungkook only remembers snippets of what actually went on when Taehyung revealed to the members his desire to be ‘little’ every once in a while. He remembers initially worrying that something was wrong as the normally bright and chatty Taehyung looked unusually nervous as he fiddled with Jimin’s fingers in his lap. The announcement was a little out of the blue, and there were many looks of confusion from the members, including himself, as to what it even meant to want to be ‘little’. He had never heard of that before and it was clear that some of the others weren’t too familiar with the concept either. It was after an explanation from Jimin, who apparently has had experience with Taehyung’s little side, had described what happened and what was needed that people began to understand. He spoke of how it meant Taehyung would act younger than his age, would want more playful interactions with them, would need more guidance in his actions and would seek more affection.

 

Jungkook remained quiet throughout the exchange and wondered what this meant for their group dynamics and what it meant in terms of responsibility. Because if Taehyung was acting like a 5 year old then that meant he had to have the supervision that a 5 year old would get. He didn’t quite understand what the benefit of acting like a 5 year old would be until Namjoon actually asks the question.

 

Jungkook remembers being intrigued by Taehyung’s response. He said that it made him feel relaxed. He said that it made him feel like all the problems and stresses that existed throughout the day were gone. He said that he felt no pressure to act differently from who he was. And that was something that inevitably happened as an idol – acting like the person who people think you are instead of the real thing. Jungkook remembers agreeing that keeping up the façade was so, so tiring sometimes. It was then that Jungkook thinks that he kind of understood why Taehyung sought relief through becoming little. Because that meant no more worries. And having no worries meant having a small slice of freedom.

 

-----

 

Jungkook doesn’t actually experience ‘little’ Taehyung until the following week when the group has a scheduled day off. The other members had shown support for Taehyung after his teary confession by promising a day for him to be little and by thoroughly scouring the internet for information about what they should do as caregivers for Taehyung.

 

Jungkook finds himself doing a lot of the hyungs’ planned activities with Taehyung because “Taehyung will enjoy his little time more if someone does the fun things with him” they said. And Jungkook couldn’t argue with that, because he also preferred it when he didn’t have to do things on his own all the time. And so, Jungkook vowed to himself that he was going to do anything for his beloved hyung, Taehyung, who always made sure that he was okay and took care of him all the time. Playing with Taehyung while he was little was the least he could do. And so Jungkook finds himself playing with lego and mini race cars again, watching Disney movies and morning cartoons, baking cookies and cupcakes, running around the dorm playing hide and seek, and Jungkook’s personal favourite, drawing and colouring in.

 

It was difficult for Jungkook at first, he had to adjust to a new side of Taehyung he hadn’t seen before, whose behaviour was also more unpredictable than big Taehyung. Sometimes there were tears with no explanation of what caused them, sometimes there were cheeky smiles and high pitched giggling and sometimes there were endless cuddles. Jungkook didn’t know how to deal with it all on his own at first but the other hyungs were always there to show him how to be more understanding of Taehyung. They explained to him how he needs to play on Taehyung’s level so that Taehyung will get the most out of his ‘little’ time, which was already so limited due to their ever so busy schedules. In all honesty, Jungkook struggled so much during his first attempt because he didn’t know how to talk to Taehyung properly. It also didn’t help that he felt so incredibly awkward and childish whenever he tried to make car noises with his mouth or tried to colour within the lines.

 

However, Jungkook, eventually became better at it and and soon began to fully immerse himself in his role as little Taehyung’s playmate. It all became routine after a while and everyone knew that Jungkook would always be willing to be little Taehyung’s companion on his adventures. Jungkook honestly found Taehyung’s company something he liked whether he was big or little, so there was no doubt that he enjoyed his time with him despite being awkward at first.

 

-----

 

It was during an afternoon off that Taehyung was scheduled to have little time again. Jungkook was already pretty excited about it and had asked his hyungs earlier in the day what activities they had planned for Taehyung. He refuses to acknowledge the fact that he himself became giddy once he found out that Yoongi had gone out the other day and bought new crayons and Zootopia colouring books – which was currently Taehyung and Jungkook’s favourite movie. Maybe he’ll ask the hyungs if they can watch the movie again (if Taehyung wants to too of course, which he is almost certain he does.)

 

It’s about 3pm by the time Jungkook arrives at the dorm after his individual vocal practice and Taehyung is already seated at the coffee table with crayon in hand, the rest of the hyungs seated on the couches behind him either watching TV or on their phones. Jungkook smiles and drops his bag at the door, “Tae Tae, Kookie is home now!”

 

Taehyung immediately drops the crayon and runs over to give him a hug, almost slipping on the rug and warranting a squeal from Jimin and a ‘No running Tae!’ from Jin. Taehyung pays them no mind though because he doesn’t actually fall over and makes it safely into Jungkooks arms – if barreling into him could be considered safe.

 

“Will Kookie colour with me? Hyungs got us a new colouring book!” Taehyung says with the biggest grin whilst holding Jungkook’s hand to drag him to the coffee table.

 

Jungkook is pleased with the invitation. He had been waiting for this all day!

 

“Sure Tae Tae, why not!” he says as he plops himself beside Taehyung and takes a crayon for himself.

 

It’s funny because Jungkook gets so absorbed into colouring that he doesn’t even realise that Taehyung was no longer beside him until he was hoping to show Taehyung the finished product.

 

Jungkook looks around the living room and finds that the rest of the members had also vacated and that he was now alone. Jungkook pouts. Why did they leave him behind?

 

Jungkook picks up his picture and decides that he was going to look for Taehyung to show him his art work. Jungkook thinks he did a pretty impressive job of staying in the lines if he says so himself.

 

“Tae Tae, why aren’t you colouring with me anymore?” Jungkook unconsciously whines out once he finds Taehyung in the kitchen helping Jin and Jimin.

 

“Huh?” Taehyung says as he halts from chopping the onions to turn to look at Jungkook, “Sorry Kookie, I was chopping, what did you say?”

 

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows in confusion because why are they allowing Taehyung in the kitchen when he’s little! And with a knife too!

 

“I said,” Jungkook decides to repeat,” Why did you leave me to colour by myself?”

 

“Oh, I guess I wasn’t feeling all too little today,” Taehyung says a matter of factly as he shrugs his shoulders, “Sometimes I just don’t feel the need to, but thanks for always wanting to play with me Kook!”

 

Taehyung smiles thankfully at him, but something in Jungkook’s chest feels heavy despite Taehyung’s reassurance. Jungkook’s not sure why he suddenly feels so lost.

 

“So… so we’re not gonna watch Zootopia tonight then?” Jungkook asks hesitantly whilst biting on his lip. He’s still clutching on the paper with his colouring on it and for some reason he feels so, so nervous about what the answer will be.

 

“Uhh…” Taehyung answers, seemingly unsure and glances at Jin and Jimin who were at the stove.

 

Jin just laughs as he stirs the contents of the pot, “Why would we want to watch that again?”

 

“I swear, I think I’ve watched that movie at least 10 times now,” Jimin groans, “As if you’re not sick of it yet Jungkook!”

 

Jungkook feels scandalised. He thought his hyungs liked the movie as much as he did. Did his hyungs really not enjoy all the times they’ve sat together and watched it?

 

“Did…Do you not like Zootopia?” Jungkook manages to say in a quiet voice as his eyes well up with tears.

 

“Maybe the first 2 times,” Jin says, eyes rolling.

 

“But you’ve insisted we watch it with you and Taehyung at least once a week, for the past 2 months or something!” Jimin adds.

 

“Honestly, Jungkook, you should be happy we won’t have to suffer through the movie this week,” Jin says with finality.

 

Jungkook doesn’t know what triggers it, but he’s suddenly making a high whining noise at the back of his throat and has hot tears falling down his cheeks. He quickly turns to run away into the comfort of his room, accidently dropping his art work in the process.

 

Jungkook hears a “What the hell just happened?” and a “What’s gotten into him?” as he escapes to his room and closes the door behind him.

 

He immediately burrows himself into his bed and starts to sob into his pillow. Jungkook doesn’t know why, but he felt so incredibly upset when he realized that they weren’t going to watch the movie. But it only got worse as his hyungs showed how much they actually detested it, and from his perspective it means that the hyungs actually hate him too because he was the one that insisted on watching it so many times.

 

Jungkook’s heart hurts so much at the thought of his hyungs getting mad or annoyed at him that he ends up sobbing even harder, his breaths becoming quick and unsteady.

 

He doesn’t really realize how loud he must be because Yoongi and Hoseok don’t even bother knocking on the door, but instead hastily move inside the room looking panicked from hearing Jungkook’s distressed cries.

 

“Hey,” Yoongi says calmly as he places a hand on Jungkook’s back and rubs in a circular motion, “Jungkookie, you need to breath.”

 

Jungkook is still sobbing shakily, though he visibly tries to slow his breathing.

 

“That’s a good boy,” Hoseok praises him, “Breath in, and out.”

 

The rest of the members tumble into the room as Jungkook evens out his breathing, and is maneuvered to sit on Yoongi’s lap. Yoongi feels Jungkook tuck his head into the crook of his neck and shoulder, tears continuing to flow making his shirt damp.

 

Namjoon mouths, ‘Is he okay?’ to Yoongi and Hoseok who seem to be the only ones who understands the situation.

 

Yoongi nods sadly, then adds softly as he rubs Jungkook’s back, “I think… I think Jungkook’s little at the moment.”

 

“He never told me he was a little!” Jimin says with a pout, but he has most of the members agreeing with him that they also weren’t informed.

 

Taehyung looks incredibly confused, “Wait, did hyungs not know Kookie was little?”

 

“No,” Namjoon says sadly, “Why, did he tell you?”

 

“He didn’t tell me either but I always felt that I kinda knew he was?” Taehyung explained, “I thought you all knew he was because you’d always buy 2 sets of everything like crayons and colouring books. Plus he always picked the movie for movie night…”

 

“Oh God! I can’t believe I didn’t see the signs earlier!” Jin says in realisation, “It makes so much more sense now!”

 

“What do you mean?” Jimin asks, “Have you seen him little before hyung?”

 

“I think…” Jin ponders quietly, “I think we’ve all seen him be little… but it seems that Jungkookie himself didn’t even know that he was in that headspace, so he couldn’t tell us.”

 

“Yes, I think that is the case,” Hoseok adds as he continues to comb his fingers through Jungkook’s hair, “I mean think about it. Remember the time when Jungkook basically ran around the entire dorm just to show us his colouring? He even insisted that it be stuck onto the fridge next to Tae’s drawing.”

 

“Or that time where little Tae accidentally elbowed him in the nose and it started bleeding! Jungkook doesn’t usually have a problem with blood but he looked pretty frightened and teary after that incident,” Jimin recalls. “I’m amazed I didn’t see this coming?”

 

“Yeah, now that I think about it,” Namjoon starts, “He’s been showing signs of being little for a while now. I bought him and Tae plushies from the internet the other day because Jungkook kept saying that they absolutely needed them. He got pretty cranky when I said no at first and started whining until I gave in.”

 

“And movie night,” Yoongi says. “Tae’s right, Kookie always chooses the movie – or in this case a particular movie and has a strong attachment to it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jungkook watch something more than once except the Iron Man movies.”

 

Namjoon sighs as he moves closer to Jungkook to pat his head, “But what got him so upset now anyway?”

 

Yoongi tries to look at Jungkook’s face which was still tucked into his shoulder, “Baby,” he says gently as he pats Jungkook’s back, “Do you want to tell us what has got you so upset?”

 

Jungkook pulls away briefly to face him and wants so badly to tell his hyungs about how ugly he felt inside. He didn’t even know why he was so butthurt about the whole movie thing anyway, when all the things Jin and Jimin said were true. He did make them watch Zootopia a heap of times and it surprises him that he didn’t even realise that his hyungs weren’t enjoying it. He was being so selfish all this time!

 

Jungkook tries to open his mouth but finds that his lips are trembling and that he just doesn’t have enough breath in him to speak. How was he supposed to try to explain his confusion and this sickening achy feeling in his heart anyway? Jungkook tears up when he realises he can’t get any words out. His hyungs are probably going to hate him even more now because he’s causing so many problems. They even think that he’s a ‘little’ now, like Taehyung. ‘Jungkook isn’t little’ he thinks to himself ‘Jungkook is supposed to be big’, but why was he acting so ridiculously right now.

 

He tries his best to keep himself together and hold back his sobs by stuffing his hand in his mouth and biting down. If he couldn’t even explain himself, then the next best thing would be to stop worrying his hyungs with more of his stupid crying.

“Oh Kookie,” Yoongi says in a soft voice, “Don’t put your hand in your mouth. It’s dirty and look you’re hurting yourself.”

 

Jungkook takes a look at the hand that Yoongi has pulled away from his mouth to see angry red bite marks on it. He suddenly realises that his hand is in pain now too and whimpers because he doesn’t know what to do to fix this anymore.

 

“It’s okay Kookie, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” Hoseok says reassuringly from somewhere beside him. And gosh, how can the hyungs still be so understanding even when he’s ruining their afternoon of free time he thinks sadly.

 

He feels the presence of someone approach him and an object press into his mouth.  He moves his hand to try to remove it but someone holds his arms down.

 

“Hey,” a voice says kindly, and Jungkook looks up to find its Taehyung that’s moved to sit on the bed near him, “Don’t take that out until you try it first. It’s kind of relaxing to on it.”

 

Jungkook is hesistant at first because he must have a pacifier in his mouth and he’s not a baby, but Taehyung is looking at him with so much love and care that he needs to at least try it before he rejects it completely.

 

He takes an experimental and the feeling takes some getting used to but it surprises him that it indeed was relaxing. It was embarrassing to be using it in front of all his hyungs though, so he chooses to tuck his face back into Yoongi’s shoulder to hide.

 

Taehyung chuckles at this and ruffles Jungkook’s hair, “He’s so adorable!”

 

“I’m glad that the paci managed to calm him down quite a bit,” Hoseok says, “He’s stopped crying now. Good thinking Tae!”

 

“That is a relief,” Namjoon agrees, “But did you see how confused he was when we asked him, poor baby looked like he was suffocating. I think this whole ‘him being little’ thing really did catch him off guard.”

 

“He must be struggling to verbalise his feelings at the moment,” Taehyung tries to explain, “It happens sometimes when you’re little. I think he’s more little today than we’ve ever seen before too. But from what I can tell, I think he was already feeling little when he came home today, but then got thrown off because I wasn’t feeling little so then he didn’t know how to act anymore. I mean, usually he just had to follow my lead to be my playmate, but I guess me not being little also made him realise that he had his own desire to be little too. It must have been scary because he didn’t know.”

 

“Oh God!” Jin says worriedly, “And then I said all those things about not wanting to watch Zootopia anymore! No wonder Kookie was so upset! He was already struggling with the fact that he was little, and then I had to make it worse by making him feel bad about it!”

 

“It’s not all your fault hyung,” Jimin sighs sadly, “It was my fault too. I was complaining about the amount of times we watched it as well.”

 

Jungkook hears his hyungs’ discussion and immediately feels even worse when he notices how sad his hyung’s voices are. They think that it’s their fault that Jungkook is upset! But his hyungs shouldn’t be sad because they were right all along! He made them watch the movie so many times and he must’ve been so annoying and gosh, they must all hate him now for wasting their time and for behaving so ridiculously right now.

 

It’s after those thoughts that Jungkook suddenly finds his voice again, “Kookie is sorry.”

 

Yoongi is startled when he hears Jungkook say something but is muffled in his shoulder. “Baby, can you say that again, we couldn’t hear you properly,” he gently coaxes.

 

Jungkook tilts his head a little so that he can speak a little more clearly, “Kookie is sorry,” he says brokenly around the pacifier, “Please don’t hate Kookie!”

 

All his hyungs are stunned that Jungkook would even think that they could hate him. What was going through Jungkook’s head to even think that they hated him?

 

Jin, thankfully, was quick to react. He knelt down on the floor beside the bed so that he was facing Jungkook and used his thumbs to gently wipe away the tears that were slowly making their way down their maknae’s cheeks.

 

“Jungkook, we don’t hate you,” Jin says with conviction, “Why would you think that we would ever hate you?”

 

“Kookie was selfish. Made you watch Zootopia lots!” Jungkook hiccups then a little on the plastic in his mouth as he sniffles. The pacifier was more comforting that he’d like to admit.

 

“No Kookie, we’re sorry that we said that about the movie,” Jimin apologises quickly, “Kookie wasn’t being selfish, hyungs were just not paying attention enough to see that it meant so much to you that we watch it together. Will you forgive hyungs?”

 

Jungkook looks at his hyungs pouting at him and immediately nods. Jin smiles brightly at him from his position on the floor and pinches his cheek softly before opening his arms out for a hug.

 

Jungkook smiles around the pacifier and twists his body from Yoongi’s embrace to open his arms out for Jin. Jin surprises him by swooping him up and lifting Jungkook into his arms as he stands up and holding him securely as he spins a few times.

 

The sudden movement scares Jungkook at first, which causes him to wrap his legs around Jin’s waist and arms around Jin’s neck tightly. He soon lets out a few giggles though because the spinning was kind of fun.

 

When the spinning stops, Jin sits them back down on the bed with Jungkook still in his lap. All his hyungs are smiling at him now and it makes him feel so, so happy because smiles mean good things, and are they all smiling because of him?

 

Hoseok is the first to approach and plants a peck on Jungkook’s cheek and ruffles his hair. “Don’t ever think that your hyungs can hate you Jungkookie! If you ever feel that way you need to tell us right away, okay?” Hoseok reminds, “We all love you very much, okay?”

 

Jungkook nods as he blushes from all the affection and feels that the heavy weight in his chest from earlier was slowly subsiding.

 

“Do you love little Kookie too?” he asks shyly. At some point in Taehyung’s explanation, Jungkook realised that perhaps his hyungs were right about him being a little. It started to make more sense because now he understood why he was feeling so bad about the movie thing and why he was looking forward to colouring in and playing with Tae when he got home. Now he just needed to know whether or not his hyungs were happy to have a little Kookie in their lives.

 

Namjoon breaks into one of his reassuring dimple smiles and bops him on the nose, “Of course we do! We love both big Jungkook and little Kookie so so much.”

 

“How can we not love little Kookie when he is so cute and adorable!” Jimin squeaks happily as he pokes Jungkook’s cheeks and then proceeds to kiss his forehead.

 

Taehyung decides to join in too and poke Jungkook on his sides, which eventually led to Jungkook being sprawled on the bed giggling and squealing happily as Taehyung tickled him under his neck and armpits.

 

“How can we resist from loving little Kookie when we have such a ticklish little boy to play with!” Taehyung says in his fake evil voice as he exaggeratingly prepares another attack on Jungkook.

 

Jungkook screams, pacifier falling out of his mouth, as Taehyung’s wriggling fingers approach him, “Hyung! Save me!”

 

Yoongi chuckles when he sees Jungkook laughing as he twists and turns away from Taehyung’s tickles. It’s only when Jungkook manages to squeak out a breathless “Stop! Hyung! Help!” that Yoongi decides to save Jungkook from further tickle torture.

 

Yoongi has never been the dramatic type but he’s always had a bit of a soft spot for Jungkook so he decides to make Jungkook’s rescue a bit more theatrical to entertain their little boy. The others will probably about it later, but this was for Jungkook and the poor kid has had such a long and emotional day already.

 

“Never fear, Yoongi hyung is here!” he says confidently as he proceeds to pretend to karate chop Taehyung who easily falls into his role and makes a big scene out of his death.

 

Yoongi thinks that it was a successful rescue because Jungkook finds the entire thing hilarious and tries to crawl up and over Taehyung’s pretend dead body towards him from where he stands near the bed.

 

“Hyung saved Kookie!” Jungkook announces as he lets himself fall into Yoongi’s arms.

 

“That’s right!” Yoongi says as he lets Jungkook cuddle into him, “Hyung saved Kookie because he loves him so much!”

 

“See baby, all of your hyungs love little Kookie!” says Hoseok cheerfully, “It means that if Jungkook feels like he wants to be little Kookie sometimes then the hyungs are definitely okay with it, just like we are when Tae Tae is little!”

 

“I’m sure little Tae Tae will be happy to have a friend too,” Jimin reassures, “Right Tae?”

 

“That’s right!” Taehyung agrees.

 

Jungkook nods his head in acknowledgement just as he yawns tiredly, eyes slipping closed as he leans on Yoongi’s chest. Now that little Kookie had the approval and love of all his hyungs, he felt so much lighter inside and so much surer of himself too. He finally allowed himself to feel the exhaustion of a long day of schedules followed by a rollercoaster of emotions. He felt safe and more comfortable being his little self in front of all his hyungs now.

 

“I think it’s time for little boys to take a nap now,” says Jin with a smile as he observed Jungkook’s sleepy blinking.

 

“Will hyungs stay with Kookie?”

 

“Of course!” Namjoon says as he helps Yoongi maneuver Jungkook into a comfortable sleeping position on the bed, “If that’s what our baby wants, then hyungs will stay.”

 

Jungkook closes his eyes and hums, pleased with Namjoons response, and cuddles into Jimin’s front who had already positioned himself on the bed.

 

Just as Taehyung was squeezing in on Jungkook’s other side, Jungkook turns slightly to face him tapping his lips.

 

“Oh, you want your paci?” Taehyung whispers, then looks towards the other hyungs to see if they knew where it fell.

 

Jungkook nods, a blush forming on his cheeks. It was still going to be embarrassing to ask for it and actually use it but he was starting to like the comforting feeling of it in his mouth.

 

Hoseok finds it on the floor and quickly goes to wash it before coming back in and pressing it to Jungkook’s mouth, “There you go baby. Sweet dreams.”

 

“I love you hyungs,” is the last thing Jungkook says before he falls asleep quickly, feeling warm, safe and more relaxed than he has felt in a long time. Jungkook thinks that as long as he had his hyungs by his side, being little won’t be too bad after all.