"j-junjun s-scared..." renjun cried, holding onto jaemin's leg tight because he was too frightened to let go.

next to him, jaemin couldn't believe what he had discovered.

renjun, the sassy tiny boy, jeno's boyfriend, a badass who was scared of nothing, was a little?

did jeno even know about this? or was he completely oblivious about the fact his boyfriend could slip into little space.

"o-owner help j-junjun..." renjun continued crying, trying to catch jaemin's attention.

jaemin looked down at the boy, wondering why he was addressed to as 'owner'.

this made absolutely no sense. jaemin wasn't even sure renjun appreciated him, and now, he had to take care of him while he was in his most vulnerable state.

"h-help..." renjun sobbed against jaemin's leg, waking jaemin up from his trance.

as much as he was astonished by this discovery, he had to act and help renjun.

this wasn't a situation he was unfamiliar with after all those years of taking care of donghyuck.

"shh, come here." jaemin crouched down again, passing renjun's arms around his neck and lifting the boy up smoothly.

renjun immediately wrapped his legs around jaemin's waist as he nuzzled in the crook of jaemin's neck, the way jaemin was holding him with so much care calming him down immediately.

"that's good, junjun." jaemin said. "calm down..." he added, rocking the boy in his arms.

"owner..." renjun replied with a sniff as he hugged jaemin tighter.

"stay silent, okay? i'm going to call the man to open the lift." jaemin explained, caressing renjun's nape with one of his hands.

"mmh." renjun hummed, slightly tickling jaemin's neck.

jaemin placed one of his hands under renjun's butt to make sure that the boy wouln't slide as his other hand pushed the bell button of the lift, making a beeping sound resonate through the small cabin.

"lift service, i'm listening." a voice replied after a few seconds.

"hello, huh... i'm locked in the lift, at the 6th floor." jaemin said, caressing renjun's back.

"i'm calling a technician, don't worry. you'll be out in five minutes."

"thank you."

another beeping sound informed jaemin that the communication had ended, and so, the boy got back to taking care of the boy in his arms.

"how are you feeling?" jaemin asked.

"better... thanks owner." renjun replied, and jaemin felt the little kissing his neck a few times.

"y-you can call me nana." jaemin explained. it was the name donghyuck used because it was too hard for him to pronounce jaemin.

"no." renjun shook his head. "you owner. junjun's owner."

jaemin flushed red at the boy's words.

what did that even mean?

before he could think further about it, they heard a loud banging against the doors.

"are you there?" a voice – that jaemin guessed to be a technician's – asked.

"yes!" jaemin exclaimed, using one of his hands to cover renjun's ears.

"i'm going to open the doors, okay?"

jaemin didn't answer, and in a few seconds, the two metallic doors of the lift were forced open, making a wave of fresh air enter the cabin.

"thank you very much." jaemin thanked the technician as he walked out of the lift with renjun still in his arms.

"no problem. well done for not panicking." the technician replied with a smile.

jaemin put renjun down slowly as he picked up the different canvases that he had left on the floor inside the lift.

he approached renjun again holding his free hand out.

"let's go, junjun?" he asked.

renjun looked at him in the eyes, obviously very worried.

"d-don't tell anyone about this." he declared.

"about what?" jaemin raised a brow. it seemed like renjun had slipped out of little space.

"what you witnessed in the lift." renjun explained.

"i won't." jaemin nodded. "let's go?"

renjun nodded before putting both of his hands inside his pockets as he walked by jaemin's side. he was troubled by something, and jaemin could see it, but he didn't want to question him too much.

"i'm sorry." renjun said after a while.

"why are you apologizing?" jaemin raised a brow.

"for... you know? acting like a kid... calling you names..." renjun looked at his feet.

"hey." jaemin used one of his hands to lift the boy's chin. "there's nothing wrong in being a little."

"y-you don't think i'm weird?" renjun asked worriedly.

"of course, not." jaemin chuckled. "it's perfectly normal. and cute."

with that said, jaemin started walking again, leaving renjun behind with a racing heart and blushing cheeks.

jaemin wasn't so bad after all.

✯

donghyuck followed his crush into the changing rooms after his basketball practice had ended.

mark had called him over so that he didn't wait for long on the bleachers, and honestly, donghyuck was very glad of it. he couldn't bear hearing those girls badmouthing him because mark's attention was all on him and not them.

"are you doing something after?" mark asked the tanned male as they were entering the changing rooms.

"no. nothing." donghyuck replied, sitting on the bench in front of mark's locker.

"would you like to hang out with me?" mark asked pulling a set of clean clothes out of his locker.

donghyuck blushed as he nodded. "i'll have to ask jaemin, though."

"he better say yes." mark warned with a chuckle. "wait for me? i'm going to have a quick shower."

"okay." donghyuck nodded as mark flashed him a smile before disappearing towards the showers.

donghyuck waited patiently, not paying attention to the other boys that had entered the changing rooms and were speaking about random things – mostly girls.

the tanned male could hear the sound of the shower, meaning that mark was currently washing himself, and that he wouldn't be back in a long time.

"oh, hyuck!"

the so-called boy turned around, surprised to see his best friend walking towards him. "jaemin? what are you doing here?"

"i need to have a talk with jeno, it's important." jaemin quickly said. "do you know where he is?"

"he was assigned to put back everything they needed for the practice back in the sports room."donghyuck informed.

"okay, i'm going there, then." jaemin nodded before walking away.

however, donghyuck called his name before he could leave, making him turn around again.

"yes, hyuck?" he asked.

"can i... huh... g-go out with mark tonight?" he asked, fidgeting with his fingers.

"as in a date?" jaeminr raised a brow.

"h-he didn't s-say it was o-one..." donghyuck said, blushing harder.

jaemin sighed, approaching his best friend. "is he taking good care of you?"

"yes." donghyuck nodded.

"do you like him?"

donghyuck waited a second before nodding shyly.

"then, you have my blessing. don't forget to call me if anything bad happens." he said. "i know that mark is someone good for you." he added, kissing donghyuck's forehead before dashing out.

"was this jaemin?"

donghyuck turned around, seeing mark wearing only a towel wrapped around his hips, and drying his dripping hair with another smaller one.

donghyuck's mouth became watery, and he tried controlling himself in order not to start drooling for good.

"h-huh... yeah." he nodded, having difficulty keeping his eyes in mark's orbs.

"what did he say? can i take you out?" mark asked immediately.

"he said yes." donghyuck smiled. "so, we're going out."

"perfect." mark smirked, pinching donghyuck's cheek between his fingers.

✯

"jeno!"

"huh?"

"i need to talk to you. it's very important." jaemin declared, jogging towards the sweating male that had just gotten out of the sports room.

"yeah, of course." jeno nodded. "what is it about?"

"renjun." jaemin stated, making jeno widen his eyes a bit.

"w-what about him?" he asked, not really knowing what to expect.

jaemin took a deep breath, before looking around to make sure no one was watching or listening to them.

"did you know he was a little?" jaemin whispered, making jeno's eyes widen for good.

"h-how do you know?!" he whisper-shouted back.

"long story short, i was helping him carry canvases to the art classroom, we took the lift, and we got stuck." jaemin explained.

"he's claustrophobic. facing his fear makes him slip into little space." jeno said.

jaemin nodded quickly. "i noticed, yeah."

jeno bit his nails nervously. "did he do something weird? does he know that you know?"

"he was fine, i dealt with it. and when he slipped out, he told me not to tell anyone." jaemin repeated renjun's words.

"okay. well, keep this secret, please. he's not very proud of it." jeno told.

"there's no shame in being a little."

"that's what i tell him." jeno shrugged. "but he doesn't like it."

"i have another question..." jaemin said after a while, rubbing the back of his neck. "it's quite delicate..."

"yeah?" jeno raised a brow, this time not knowing at all what jaemin could ask him.

"when he was into little space... huh... renjun called me by a name... huh..."

"which name?" jeno asked.

"owner." jaemin replied, immediately looking at his feet.

"does it bother you?" jeno questioned, making jaemin's head shoot up immediately.

"n-no, not at all." jaemin replied. "it's just that... he's your boyfriend. and i don't want him to call me such an intimate name if you don't have one for you. i even asked him to call me nana, but he said that i was owner."

jeno thought for a few seconds before looking at jaemin in the eye.

"little renjun calls me master. i am his caregiver. and i thought i was the only one until you told me this." jeno explained.

"what does that mean?"

"it means that you are renjun's caregiver too." jeno replied.

jaemin's brows furrowed. "what is a caregiver?"

"a caregiver is the person the little trusts the most. it's the person that they want to have with them forever, the one that will help them through life." jeno told.

"i-i didn't know..." jaemin gasped. "so, i'm renjun's caregiver? and you too?"

"some littles have multiples caregivers." jeno said. "renjun is part of them. and let's be honest, i'm pretty happy that you are his other caregiver."

jaemin blushed at the words pronounced by jeno.

the fact he had developed those feelings for jeno didn't help at all.

"does donghyuck have multiple caregivers too?" jeno asked after a while, surprising jaemin.

"h-h-how...?"

"mark told me how he acted childish, slept with a plushie, and called him daddy. having a little myself, i immediately understood why donghyuck acted like that." jeno explained.

"so, that's why you knew how to calm him at the ice-skating rink..." jaemin gasped in realisation.

"exactly."

jaemin stayed silent for a while, just processing everything that he had learnt in the spawn of an hour. thank god all days weren't like this.

"i think mark is donghyuck's caregiver." jaemin said. "i couldn't understand why he acted like that around him, and always cried for his 'daddy'. but now i now."

"i'm sure that he is." jeno nodded. "it's obvious."

"and mark? does he know anything?" jaemin raised a brow.

"he has no clue of what being a little means. let alone being a little's caregiver."

"and we need to make him understand." jaemin concluded, looking into jeno's eyes.

"exactly."