Work Text:
Jihoon doesn’t consider himself to be particularly good with kids.
Sure, he likes them— kids are cute. He admires their endless fascination with discovery and their boundless glee towards anything and everything.
However, he doesn’t have the energy to deal with things like crying, screaming, or questions. The last thing he wants to do is chase around a small child to prevent them from throwing fits. He’s just not equipped for it.
Thankfully, being a homebody and a producer means Jihoon doesn’t have to interact with kids often, unlike Seungkwan and Jeonghan who come home every day feeling fond of their kindergarten class but utterly exhausted.
Joshua loves his kids, too. He teaches kids at the local middle school and while he always complains about how cruel they are, he often laments about the potential he sees in each of them.
Of all his friends on their apartment floor, plenty of them are more equipped to deal with children than Jihoon. Half of them are teachers!
And yet, Wonwoo asks for him.
Wonwoo does this thing a lot. He gets more spacey and quiet than usual. He wears his biggest shirt and curls up on the couch to watch cartoons; he brings out his coloring book and coloring supplies and sits at the kitchen table for hours, coloring himself to sleep.
He tried to explain it to his roommates, Joshua and Jihoon. Age regression, he called it. It’s like he’s a child in the clumsy body of a twenty-four-year-old man.
They accepted it. If Wonwoo needed this headspace of his to cope with his stress, he could do as he pleased. It didn’t bother them.
The others understood, too, and they offered to help if Wonwoo needed them.
Sometimes Seungcheol takes him to the park and teaches him how to play soccer. Jeonghan and Seungkwan will slip him coloring pages and worksheets for him to do when they’re too busy to come by and look after him. Soonyoung goes out of his way to make time for Wonwoo.
Despite all of these things, however, Wonwoo comes to Jihoon the most when he wants company.
Jihoon who is always sitting in his studio working, working, and working, only taking breaks to eat and sleep.
He’s always anticipating the next project, always talking to the artist he’s working with. And when he isn’t, he’s looking out for himself and doing what he wants to do. Jihoon isn’t the most ideal option for a kid.
But to Wonwoo, none of that matters. He always finds a way to wiggle his way into Jihoon’s heart.
“Jiji? Busy now?”
And who is Jihoon to turn him away?
At the sound of Wonwoo’s gentle voice, he slips off his headphones and spins around in his chair to face him.
Wonwoo’s got his pale green hoodie on, the fluffy one with little leaves on the arms. His favorite stuffed animal— a large elephant named Ellie— is tucked under one arm, and a coloring book is tucked under the other, a box of crayons in his hand.
With his free hand, Wonwoo clumsily pushes his glasses further up, waiting to be told whether he can stay in the studio or not. He’s always patient like that, polite and respectful of his friends’ obligations.
Jihoon smiles and beckons Wonwoo closer, “You can stay, angel. Jiji’s not too busy. If you get your stool you can come sit with me, okay?”
Returning the smile, Wonwoo nods. He shuffles over to Jihoon’s desk and sets his coloring book and crayons on the empty space on the left side before retrieving a stool from the corner of the studio.
He sets it down next to Jihoon’s chair, spinning around in the sticker-covered rotating seat once before settling down at the desk. The producer can’t help but ruffle Wonwoo’s hair a little, amused when he whines in protest.
Resting his chin on Ellie’s head, Wonwoo looks at the screen of Jihoon’s computer screen that still shows the music program he had been working with.
His eyes sparkle. “Jiji workin’?” he asks.
“I am. I’m making a song, angel.”
Wonwoo sits up, resting a hand on his friend’s arm to make sure he’s paying attention. “C-Can I listen?”
He only has a few layers so far, but he’s sure that it doesn’t make a difference to Wonwoo. So, Jihoon takes his headphones and puts them over Wonwoo’s ears, making sure the volume isn’t too loud. He presses play.
Wonwoo watches the bar move across the screen over the audio files. Jihoon lets the instrumental play without interruption. As he listens, his fingers twitch and move as if trying to play an invisible piano, even though he doesn’t know how to play.
When it’s finished, Wonwoo brushes the headphones off his ears, but Jihoon’s done this enough times with him to know that it isn’t a negative reaction.
“You like it?” he asks the boy.
“Mhmm! Jiji makes good songs!” Wonwoo chirps. He holds Ellie closer to his chest, fingernails digging into her soft fur.
“Thank you, that’s very sweet of you,” Jihoon coos. He pats his head again to show his appreciation for the compliment.
In response, Wonwoo giggles and buries his face into Jihoon’s shoulder. The action only makes him look cuter in the producer’s eyes.
Eventually, they settle back into their individual activities. Jihoon goes back to working on his song and Wonwoo takes out his crayons, picking a picture in his book to color.
During his occasional slumps, Jihoon checks on Wonwoo. Over an hour, he makes good progress on his picture, but sometimes he looks and he isn’t coloring at all. His head rests on the table, his crayon presses against the paper, but his hand doesn’t move.
After watching him cycle through concentrating on his drawing and losing focus completely, Jihoon decides to intervene. He taps Wonwoo on the shoulder.
The boy jerks in surprise. He looks up at Jihoon, a bewildered but urgent look in his eyes.
“You feeling okay?” he checks.
Wonwoo nods. “Good. Josh gave me breakfast before he left and I ate all of it and he said I did a good job!”
Jihoon doesn’t know what they would do without Joshua around to persuade them into taking care of themselves. Wonwoo has terrible self-regulation and Jihoon is hardly any better himself.
If Joshua didn’t put a toothbrush in Wonwoo’s hands and hum with him every morning, he would never brush his teeth. If Joshua didn’t physically drag Jihoon to the gym, he wouldn’t be nearly as healthy as he is.
“That is good! Did he make you a bottle of water?”
Wonwoo’s expression turns contemplative. Then, he shakes his head, “No, just had milk.”
“Why don’t you go make a water bottle, angel? You need to stay hydrated.”
Once again tucking his face into Jihoon’s shoulder, the boy whines, “I can’t…”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to go! I can’t, I can’t—“
Not wanting him to work himself into hysterics, Jihoon lifts his head and frames his face, placating him gently, “I’ll get it for you this time, angel. You can stay here and keep coloring your picture for me.”
Jihoon stands from his chair, intentionally not letting go of Wonwoo until the last second. “Keep coloring for Jiji, okay?”
Wonwoo nods and holds Ellie. He picks up his crayon as Jihoon heads to the kitchen.
The producer fishes Wonwoo’s cute water bottle out of the cabinets, a small, clear yellow one with a blue flip top and a picture of a bee on the side. He takes his own, as well— a larger thermos— and fills both of them with cold water.
Just as he’s about to turn back to his studio, Jihoon catches sight of the clock. It’s mid-morning and approaching lunchtime. He opens the fridge and finds some applesauce pouches in a box with a sticky note that says “for Nunu,” so Jihoon decides to take one to Wonwoo.
The boy grins when he sees the food before he grabs it out of Jihoon’s hand. His hands shake excitedly. Before he delves back into his coloring, he chirps, “Thank you!”
Jihoon doesn’t see Wonwoo zone out for awhile after that. He steadily finishes his drawing while drinking the applesauce from its pouch.
Jihoon works until he hears Wonwoo slurp the very last of the applesauce. The boy taps his arm to get his attention, and when Jihoon looks at him, he holds out the empty pouch as if asking for more.
“No more, baby, you ate all of it,” Jihoon tells him. “We’re going to have lunch soon. Drink some water for now.”
Wonwoo huffs but flips the top of his water bottle open. His mouth latches onto the straw and it stays in his mouth as he starts a new page in his coloring book.
Wonwoo colors and drinks from his bottle until his eyes start to droop. He slumps against Jihoon’s arm and closes his eyes.
Within minutes, he’s asleep despite the uncomfortable position he’s put both of them in.
When Jihoon’s shoulder starts to strain from holding Wonwoo’s weight, he decides to change his position.
He pries Ellie from Wonwoo’s grip and satisfies the complaint building in the back of his throat by taking him into his arms and hauling him into his lap.
Unable to work easily with Wonwoo straddling him, Jihoon leans back in his chair to be more comfortable while soothing the aggravated boy back to sleep.
Jihoon doesn’t understand why Wonwoo likes him so much. He’s surprised that any of this is working, that he’s cuddling closer and almost crushing him rather than whining and pulling away.
But he’ll take it. He’ll enjoy the attention while he can. He still cares about Wonwoo deeply, even if he isn’t sure how to help.
Luckily, it’s simple actions that make Wonwoo the happiest. He loves it when Joshua or Jihoon sit with him while he colors or cuddle while he watches cartoons.
When he’s feeling small like this, Jihoon tries to give him the space that he wants, and when he inevitably asks for Jihoon, he always stays because he knows Wonwoo needs him to.
“Jiji, ‘ove you…” the boy murmurs.
Jihoon smiles to himself and holds Wonwoo closer to himself. He kisses the side of his head and hums his new melody softly.
Lulling Wonwoo to sleep, Jihoon feels at peace. He feels warm, loved. He wishes he didn’t have to let go.
Maybe I’m not so bad at this after all, Jihoon thinks as he drifts off to sleep. Maybe I’m worth keeping around.