"when friendies arrive?" donghyuck asked excitedly as he waved the dolphin plushie in the air.

"in a few, minutes, hyuckie." jisung replied, patting the boy's head.

"will friendies like hyuckie?" donghyuck questioned, leaning against jisung's side to receive a hug.

"of course, they will. hyuckie is a good boy, and they like good boys."

"hyuckie good boy!" donghyuck happily clapped, making jisung chuckle.

jaemin and jisung had had a long conversation the day before with donghyuck.

jaemin had told about what he had said to mark, and how he had reacted, and then, they had asked the boy if he was ready to spill the secret to his loving friends.

it took quite a while for donghyuck to accept, but he eventually did.

and so, the next morning, when he had slipped into little space, he was excited to meet them and finally tell them the whole truth – or at least, show them.

"there's here." jaemin declared as he saw jeno parking his car on their lawn.

"friendies! friendies!" little donghyuck exclaimed.

"calm down, hyuckie." jisung said, silencing donghyuck.

jaemin walked to the door, opening it wide as he greeted his friends with a bright smile.

"hello guys!"

"hello jaemin!" chenle waved.

"please come in." the pink-haired boy stepped aside, allowing jeno, renjun and chenle to come in.

"aww, look at this cutie!" chenle exclaimed as soon as his eyes fell on donghyuck.

the boy was clinging to jisung's side, his arm wrapped tightly around the dolphin plushie

as his eyes stared at his bare feet.

"hyuckie, say hello to lele?" jisung asked, side-hugging the little.

"h-hellow lele..." donghyuck mumbled.

"hello hyuckie!" chenle greeted the boy. "do you like the plushie i offered you?"

donghyuck glanced at the dolphin in his hand before nodded. "me likey a lot. thank chu lele."

while chenle and donghyuck were haiving a conversation, jaemin coughed to get jisung's attention.

"can i know why he isn't weirded out by any of this?" jaemin asked, pointing at chenle.

"well... i may or may not have told him..." jisung rubbed his nape.

"what?!"

"he was starting to question hyuck's behaviour, i couldn't hide it forever..." jisung explained. "but i have the same question for jeno."

"jeno discovered on his own." jaemin replied.

"sure..." jisung rolled his eyes.

however, renjun's next words made him think again about his words.

"donghyuck is a little too?" the smallest boy asked in disbelief, looking at their friend who was acting like a child.

"he is." jeno nodded.

"wait..." jisung looked at renjun. "you are a little too?!"

"hey, don't scare him like that." jaemin stood between jisung and renjun.

"i'm just surprised..." jisung shrugged.

"sungie..."

jisung looked down to see donghyuck clinging to his arm as he looked at the two other males that were standing before him.

"oh, yeah. hyuckie, this is... huh..."

"nono." jaemin completed jisung's words while pointing at jeno. "and junjun." he added, pointing at renjun. "say hello?"

"hellow nono and junjun..." he mumbled.

"hello hyuckie." jeno replied with a smile. "how are you?"

"me fine because friendies like hyuckie." the little replied, making chenle coo.

jeno's attention got caught by his boyfriend who was tugging on his sleeve.

"can i...?" renjun asked, looking at jeno with his best puppy eyes.

"of course." jeno nodded, dropping a kiss on renjun's temple.

in a second, renjun closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, a bright smile appeared on his face.

"hello, me junjun!" little renjun exclaimed as he approached donghyuck.

"me hyuckie!" donghyuck replied, suddenly taking interest in renjun.

"you can go and play together if you'd like." jaemin declared. "junjun is like you, hyuckie."

"really?!" donghyuck asked. "junjun want to play with hyuckie?"

"yes!"

with these words exchanged, the two littles ran away to donghyuck's room where they would have everything needed to play together.

this left jeno and jaemin with a dumbfounded chenle and jisung.

"r-renjun is a little too?" chenle asked, still not believing his eyes.

"it's so weird seeing him like this." jisung nodded.

"yeah. but he isn't proud of this part of him at all." jeno replied.

"maybe being with donghyuck will help him accepting himself more?" jaemin said, looking at jeno.

"i hope so."

✯

"junjun likey nana and nono!" donghyuck exclaimed loudly.

"hyuckie likey markie!" renjun replied on the same tone.

the four friends looked at the two littles fondly, chuckling at their behaviour.

the littles had done playing together alone, and they were back in the living room, renjun sitting in between jeno and jaemin, and donghyuck between jisung and chenle.

"yeah, but daddy likey hyuckie too!" donghyuck pulled his tongue out.

"master and owner likey junjun too!" renjun imitated him as jeno and jaemin exchanged a glance.

"stop screaming, boys." jaemin said, wrapping an arm around renjun's body.

"dooes owner like junjun like master does?" renjun asked, looking at jaemin with a big pout.

this made jaemin melt on the inside.

"of course, i do..." he replied as renjun jumped on his lap to hug him tight.

their little moment was interrupted by the doorbell which rang twice.

"oh, i guess mark has arrived." jisung stated before standing up and walking to the door.

he opened it, revealing the canadian male.

"hello mark, please, come in." jisung said, stapping aside.

"hey..." mark declared, looking around the living room and greeting all of his friends.

"daddy!"

donghyuck jumped off the couch and ran towards the new-comer, jumping into his arms as soon as he was close enough.

mark was surprised by the sudden action, but he caught the boy in his arm and held him tight.

"hyuckie miss daddy..." the little declared as mark smiled.

"i missed you too." he whispered in donghyuck's ear before dropping a kiss on the boy's cheek.

mark then placed donghyuck back on the floor, allowing him to run towards renjun and pull him out of jaemin's lap. the two boys disappeared again in donghyuck's room, leaving the five other boys alone in the living room.

"so... that was his little mind?" mark asked jaemin.

"yeah." jaemin nodded. "how do you think he is?"

"very cute." mark said. "he's like a baby."

"indeed." jisung nodded.

"and do you want to know a secret?" jaemin asked.

"yeah?"

"there is a praise that makes him loose his mind completely, and that makes him slip into little space immediately." jaemin declared.

"what praise?"

"good boy."

✯

donghyuck walked out of his house while fidgeting with his fingers.

he had slipped out of little space, and his friends had told him that mark wanted to have a talk with him, and that he was waiting for him in the nearby park.

so, donghyuck had decided he would go there, first, to face mark after the canadian discovered his biggest secret, and also because he could never get enough of the older boy.

"donghyuck."

the tanned male looked up, seeing mark standing on a bench under a tree, just a few meters away.

donghyuck walked there, taking a sit next to mark, but still leaving space between their bodies.

"hello, mark." donghyuck mumbled shyly.

"hey." mark replied with a smile. "how are you?"

"n-nervous." donghyuck replied honestly. he had no idea where this conversation could lead to.

"don't be." mark declared as he took donghyuck's hand in his.

donghyuck's eyes stayed on their intertwined hands for a while before he looked at mark in the eye again.

"do you hate me?" he asked carefully.

"of course, not." mark shook his head.

"but, i'm not the person i pretend to be..."

mark tightened his embrace on the boy's hand. "and? i love you anyway..."

donghyuck flushed at this sudden confession.

it felt good having someone like mark taking care of him.

donghyuck would like this to last forever.

"i didn't expect it at all, but in the end, i'm not that surprised. it fits well with your persona. it makes you even cuter than you already are." mark declared, making donghyuck blush again.

"i'm glad you're not freaked out." donghyuck breathed out. "i was so scared that you'd hate me."

"i can never hate you, donghyuck." mark told, his thumb rubbing the back of donghyuck's hand.

the two boys stayed silent for a while, just admiring the view of the nature in front of them while trying to calm their rapid heartbeats.

they were so in love...

"are you cold?" mark asked, noticing donghyuck shivering.

"a bit." donghyuck replied.

mark took his jacket off, placing it over donghyuck's shoulders. "there. better?"

"y-yes." donghyuck nodded.

mark wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders, pulling him closer.

donghyuck allowed his head to fall on mark's shoulder as his heart started accelerating again.

these feelings were going to be the death of him.

"come and see me tomorrow at the basketball game." mark stated. "i really want to see you there."

"okay. i'll come." donghyuck replied.

mark smiled, his mind wandering back to something jisung and jaemin told him earlier in the afternoon. something he wanted to give a try.

"good boy..." the canadian whispered in donghyuck's ear, making the tanned male look at him surprised.

"w-what...?" donghyuck asked, slowly slipping into little space.

"you're a good boy." mark repeated, a smirk decorating his face.

"daddy!" donghyuck cuddled closer to mark. "hyuckie is daddy's good boy!"

"exactly." mark nodded. "you're my good boy..."