"hyuckie, time to wake up..."

the sweet voice of donghyuck's favourite person rang through his ears, slowly taking him away from the dream he was peacefully in.

"mmh..." the older boy whined, turning around in his bed and trying to fall back into dreamland.

"come on, hyuckie." jaemin shook him more.

"no..." donghyuck let out, trying to push jaemin away.

"jisung prepared your favourite pancakes especially for you... you can't miss them." jaemin said, a smile making its way on his face.

the words he pronounced acted like an eye-opened for donghyuck.

he loved pancakes, and more specially, those jisung prepared.

"for me?!" donghyuck repeated, opening his eyes wide to look at his pink-haired friend with glistening eyes.

"just for you, dear." jaemin smiled.

donghyuck pushed his covers away immediately, getting off his fluffy bed to run towards the kitchen, where he found jisung placing the pancakes on three different plates.

"hello hyuckie." the younger boy said once he saw his friend entering the room. "i hope you're hungry, i made plenty." he declared, patting the stool on which donghyuck was supposed to sit.

"very." the honey-haired responded immediately, jumping on the stool, and not forgetting to drop a kiss on jisung's cheek.

"good." jisung smiled. "enjoy your pancakes."

donghyuck didn't wait longer to dig in the dish that smelt so good.

five dinosaur-shaped pancakes were resting in the bottom of his plate, begging for donghyuck to eat them.

"don't eat too quick, hyuck. you might choke." jaemin said when he saw donghyuck trying to push one full pancake insie his mouth.

"mmh." the boy answered, taking his time to munch on his food under the loving gaze of jisung and jaemin.

the three boys had been living together in a shared house for a few years now.

they were the best of friends, and both jisung and jaemin loved taking care of donghyuck.

donghyuck was a little.

when he was three years old, his parents died in a bus accident when they were bringing him to the beach.

thankfully, donghyuck had been saved, and taken inside an orphanage belonging to jaemin's parents.

donghyuck had been raised with jaemin, and the younger boy always did everything he could to protect his friend.

jaemin was always there for him whenever he slipped into little space.

he had been there the first time he did, when he was 7 years old, and he had been there ever since.

jisung was too. donghyuck met him because he visited jaemin often – he was one of his best friends – and he became donhyuck's friend too.

since their early years, the three boys spent their days and nights together, until they were old enough to go to college.

the three of them decided to move into a small house that they would share, far from the looks of the other orphans that were wondering why a 17-year-old boy acted like a 3-year-old.

because of those events, jaemin and jisung decided that it was their duty to help their friend.

they had to be here for him.

they had to love him.

they had to protect him.

and that's how they ended up in this cozy house, sharing their lives and their secrets.

"was it good?" jaemin asked the honey-haired boy while eating one of his pancakes.

"very good." donghyuck nodded.

"brush your teeth and get dressed then, okay?" jaemin continued. "we're going to the funfair today."

donghyuck nodded happily before hopping off his stool and heading to the bathroom.

"is he in littlespace?" jisung asked looking at donghyuck's figure disappearing in the corridor.

"i'm not sure." jaemin shrugged.

donghyuck wasn't always into little space.

however, when he was at home, with jaemin and jisung only, he tended to let himself slip; sometimes completely – taking him into the mind of a 3-year-old – and sometimes just slightly, making him act cute, giggly and shy, just like this morning.

but other than that, donghyuck was just a simple boy, going to school and hanging out with friends, doing his best to hide his precious secret.

donghyuck couldn't really control his slipping.

there were elements that made him fall into little space, such as riding a bus – the vehicle of the accident – holding or simply looking at plushies for too long, watching cartoons, getting too much stress or hearing his favourite praise: 'good boy'.

once he was in little space, it was very hard for him to get out of it. he didn't really know how to do it, neither did jaemin and jisung.

but since the two boys loved their friend, they took care of him 24/7, doing what was necessary for him to feel good in his body.

"what was that?" jisung asked jaemin after hearing a loud thud and breaking noise in the direction of donghyuck's room.

"go check, i'll finish clening the kitchen." jaemin told, making jisung nod and jog towards their other friend's room.

jisung pushed the door open, revealing a crying donghyuck, seated on the floor with pieces of a broken glass shattered around him.

"hyuckie, be careful, don't hurt yourself." jisung warned, approaching the boy carefully.

"me sowy..." donghyuck sniffed. "me didn't want to break the glassy..." he continued. "glassy slipped... me sowy sungie..."

jisung stood in front of donghyuck, being careful of not touching any piece of glass.

"come on, baby, come into my arms." he said with a smile.

donghyuck continued crying, wrapping his arms around jisung's neck and allowing the younger male to carry him away from the crime scene.

donghyuck cried loudly into jisung's shoulder as the tall male brought him to the kitchen.

"what happened, hyuckie baby...?" jaemin asked worriedly as donghyuck was sat on the clean kitchen counter.

"me b-bad boy..." donghyuck cried harder.

jaemin looked at jisung for an explaination.

"he broke a glass inside his room. he surely slipped because of stress." jisung explained. "do you know where his paci is?"

"yes, in the first drawer." jaemin nodded, pointing at one of the drawers next to the fridge.

as jisung grabbed the small object, jaemin concentrated again on his sobbing friend.

"hyuckie, it's okay... things like that happens... it's no biggie, okay?" jaemin asked, caressing the boy's cheeks.

"me doing b-bad things..." donghyuck continued crying.

"no, baby." jisung interrupted, holding the baby blue pacifier out for donghyuck to take it in his mouth and stop crying. "it's okay... i'm going to clean the glass, and then we'll go to the funfair, okay?"

donghyuck sucked on the pacifier energetically as he continued siffling.

"mmh." he mumbled, nodding.

"very good, hyuckie." jaemin smiled. "you're such a good boy."