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Bad days don’t happen very often. Taehyung is and always has been an incredibly carefree and happy person and regressing doesn’t change that. In fact, Jimin didn’t even realize that bad days were possible within Taehyung’s regression. As far as he had seen the few times TaeTae was sad it never lasted long. So when he received a simple “ dada ” from Taehyung via Kakao, he was on high alert.
Dada
what’s wrong baby? are you okay?
do you need me to come over
i’m on my way
Little Prince
m sad
m heart hurt
Dada
i’ll be there soon baby boy
just hug cheddar or tata until i get there
Little Prince
k dada
luv u
Dada
i love you too my sweet beautiful little prince
When Jimin finally arrives he, quite rudely to be honest, throws the ~10,000 won he finds within his wallet at the uber driver and shoots out of the car, nearly eating the sidewalk in his haste. He knows he’s probably being dramatic given that TaeTae is obviously functional enough to text him, but said boy is one of Jimin’s highest priorities. He’s his baby, any hurt he feels is multiplied by ten to Jimin. Taehyung had given him a key to his apartment, and vice versa, long ago and he had never been more thankful for it.
“Where are you, sweetheart?” he calls, though he doesn’t stop to listen for an answer before he goes to the kitchen to get a sippy of grape juice for TaeTae.
“‘m here, dada.” He’s curled up on the couch, buried under his weighted blanket and cuddling both of his stuffies.
Jimin pauses for a moment to grab his favorite paci from the coffee table. He sits beside TaeTae, tugging him into his arms whilst keeping the blanket and stuffies within his arms. TaeTae pops his paci into his mouth without a second thought. “What’s going on, little one? Hm?” He speaks softly, his way of assuring TaeTae that he’s safe with him and more than welcome to leave his question unanswered.
“‘M fr’en’s mad a’ me.” He can barely get the words out around his paci but Jimin has gotten very good at deciphering his paci-slurred words. Still, Jimin makes sure he heard correctly.
“Your friend is mad at you?“ TaeTae nods sadly and with a sniffle. “I’m sorry, baby. Do you wanna talk about what happened?”
He thinks for a moment, before shaking his head and burrowing further into Jimin’s chest. “No, jus’ wan’ be wiff ‘m dada.”
Humming, Jimin acquiesces and places the sippy in TaeTae’s lap, then wraps his arms tighter around him. He strokes TaeTae’s hair, quietly singing his favorite lullaby. His intention isn’t to lull him to sleep but regardless, that’s what TaeTae before long. After a few minutes, Jimin deems it safe enough to pull his phone out.
jiminie
SOS
TAEHYUNG IS LITTLE AND UPSET WGAT DO!!!
seokjinnie hyung
lmao what do you mean?
comfort him?
jiminie
but he’s little!!! i thought they’re supposed to be happy when regressed!!
seokjinnie hyung
oh jiminie. you innocent, innocent boy.
you know why the majority of regressors do so, right?
jiminie
trauma
seokjinnie hyung
yes. and the regressors who don’t have trauma typically do it as a way to draw themselves away from the stress of their everyday life.
inherently the reasons for regression aren’t great, even if they do typically have good experiences while regressed.
it’s very normal to regress when anxious or sad or scared because it’s generally easier to handle while in such a simplistic mind state.
there are a variety of reasons for taehyung to be upset and it’s also entirely possible that he’s not upset for any reason in particular.
you’ve mentioned that taehyung deals with depression, among other things, and from what i’ve heard regression is one of his only coping mechanism, if not
the
only.
regression is not always sunshine and rainbows
jiminie
oh
WAIT I DONT KNOW HOW TO COMFORT BABIES
seokjinnie hyung
don’t overthink it
you’ll figure it out
jiminie
;0;
TaeTae stirs a few hours later, nose scrunched as he makes grumpy little groans. He stretches dramatically and nearly breaks Jimin’s nose in the process. TaeTae looks up at him and giggles as he pets his nose in apology. “Hi, dada.”
“Hi sweetheart. How was your nap?”
Humming noncommittally, TaeTae twists around to throw his legs over Jimin’s lap and places his two stuffies in his lap as well. “Tata ‘n Chedda say you’s comfy.”
Jimin beams, lowering his head to meet both of the stuffies in their eyes. “Thank you, you both are always welcome to sit in my lap for cuddles if you need them.”
TaeTae gasps in offense, sitting up quickly to stare at Jimin incredulously. “Dada, d’ose are my cuddles.” He pouts and pulls Tata and Cheddar into his own lap instead. “‘Dey ‘s mine! No one else can has d’em.”
“You’re right, baby. Dada should have known better.”
He grunts, pretending as if he’s not obviously very placated. “Yesh, dada. You ‘s vewy siwwy.” Now that TaeTae is awake and in a better mood he desperately wants to ask what’s wrong. He almost does- lips parted and everything- but he realizes something. It doesn’t matter right now. TaeTae is happy and giggling and being his usual bubbly self. He’ll ask about it later when he’s big again but for now? All Jimin cares about is TaeTae being happy within his regression, his safe space truly being safe. As long as he’s happy, that’s all that matters.
Coming out of littlespace has always been pretty obvious for Taehyung. He starts getting restless and noticeably dissociated, blinking rapidly and occasionally jerking. When Jimin notices the signs, he tends to run his fingers through Taehyung’s hair or rub circles into Taehyung’s back, whatever is easiest. Apparently it helps ground him but really Jimin just likes having an excuse for extra affection.
Taehyung stands eventually, snuffling and scratching his head as he stretches again. Even though TaeTae isn’t comfortable with kisses, Taehyung certainly is and tends to be a bit needy after the extended period without kisses. He braces his weight on the back of the couch, hands on either side of Jimin’s head, and gives him a series of sweet box-shaped kisses. Jimin laughs softly as he cups his hands on either side of his jaw. He has no complaints about not being able to kiss TaeTae but lord does he love kissing Taehyung. “Love you,” Taehyung murmurs against Jimin’s lips from where their foreheads are pressed together. He gets up for real this time, his bladder far too unwilling to wait.
When he emerges from the bathroom Jimin is no longer where Taehyung left him, instead standing in the kitchen to slice some fruits and vegetables to snack on. It’s pretty expected for Taehyung to come up to hug him from behind, but Jimin’s stomach still erupts with butterflies just as much as it did the first time. His entire body weight is essentially resting against Taehyung and they’re both more than happy to revel in the closeness.
“How are you feeling?” Jimin doesn’t even need to turn around to know that Taehyung is pouting with his nose scrunched up. He doesn’t like dwelling on bad things but his therapist had been trying to drill it into his head that it’s healthy to acknowledge them. Still doesn’t like it though.
“Sad,” he answers honestly. “Better, but still sad.”
Jimin turns in his arms, popping an orange slice into Taehyung’s mouth. He waits until he’s finished to ask, “Is it better to deal with it when you’re little or big?”
Taehyung hums, head tilting to the side as he seriously considers the question. Emotions are so much more intense when he’s young but at the same time he’s not truly able to process his thoughts and feelings properly. It’s a loaded question. “It depends, really. I already wasn’t feeling great mentally today, which is why I regressed in the first place. But then I made my friend mad at me and I just felt…”
He trails off, but Jimin knows what he means anyway. They’ve both discussed these things with each other and one of Taehyung’s biggest insecurities revolves around feeling like he’s being annoying or a bother, as well as his fear of ruining things. Whoever this friend was deserves a stern talking to by Jimin, but he can’t imagine Taehyung would be willing to divulge those details.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
For a moment it appears as though Taehyung is going to say no but, after some thought, he nods his head. “Yeah, sure. It might help.”
They both move to the kitchen table where they place their plate of snacks in between them. Jimin nibbles on a carrot in an attempt to occupy himself whilst internally dying with his desire to know just what happened with his poor sweet boyfriend.
“You know that friend I met on Twitter, right? Koo, another regressor?” Jimin recognize the name immediately and nods his head in agreement. “Well… I accidentally implied that his daddy was a bad one.”
The carrot is suddenly lodged in Jimin’s throat in his shock at the situation. Taehyung has never ever done such a thing without true reason—he’s even still upset with his own parents for trying to say that Jimin wasn’t a fit partner for him. Taehyung grimaces as he waits, well aware of what’s going inside Jimin’s mind. He hates feeling like a hypocrite.
“Yeah, exactly. I was just joking, but I was little, you know? I didn’t know anything about social decorum as a bio kid and I sure don’t when I’m regressed,” he explains, hands flailing dramatically. “He was sad because his daddy said he could have anymore ice cream because his tummy hurt and I’m silly, Jiminie. So I said ‘that’s abuse!’ I was kidding Jimin! His daddy is very very very nice and he’s really good to him. I’d never talk bad about him!” Taehyung is out of breath by the end of his explanation, his hands having finally come to rest on his cheeks instead of… well, everywhere else. Jimin hands Taehyung the box of juice that had been left there at some point and smiles fondly while Taehyung gulps it down in just three swallows. He grabs another for him, this one only being drank halfway.
“And he just—He got so mad! Which I totally understand because I would send so many glitter letters to anyone who would dare to say something bad about you, but he wouldn’t even listen when I explained!”
A small smile spreads across Jimin’s face at the conviction with which Taehyung threatens this imaginary person. “Was Koo little too?”
Taehyung nods, then pauses as something dawns on him. “Oh… do you think he missed the joke because he was baby too?”
“That could certainly be the case, Tae. Why don’t you wait a few hours and then try to apologize again, okay?”
He frowns but nods nonetheless. “Okay… Thank you, Jiminie. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Jimin coos, rounding the table to kiss his boyfriend sweetly. “You know that I’ll always be here for you, baby. You are my highest priority.”