Rise of a Star - a Minsung Story

Chapter 3

A week passed and Jisung learned a lot about life. Chan, Minho and he went to the police station and told the people there about Jisung's case. The youngest had acted like a teenager again and was behaving very normal but he couldn't stop himself from crying when he shared his past with the police officers. He had to got through another medical check at the police station and they took pictures off all his wounds. A very friendly police officer offered his help with getting an ID since he didn't have a place to live at nor a legal guardian to sign the papers or anything like that. Luckily, Jisung could get a legal guardian from a children's home without actually having to move there. He was allowed to legally move in with Minho and Felix, although if they moved out, he would have to go to the children's home because nobody was there to pay for his rent. Jisung got a temporary identity card to be able to get insurance and private school lessons and a therapist and all such things until is actual ID would be printed. And obviously, the police started working on finding his abuser that turned out to not actually be part of Jisung's family. But since Jisung remembered his name, finding him shouldn't be too hard.

Slowly but surely, Jisung got used to his new life. Minho and he had bought a mattress for him and had made space in Minho's room for Jisung to live in. Jisung was practicing singing and dancing with Minho and Chan in order to pass the audition next week and he even had his first classes of home schooling already. 

Today was the 24th of December and although everyone had told Jisung to not spend the pocket money he had gotten from his legal guardian on Christmas presents, he wanted to at least buy something for his friends and roommates. He was living there for free and they paid everything he needed for him, he had to at least show how grateful he was.

Determined to buy some presents, Jisung had left the apartment on his own to go to the closest big shopping mall. The problem with that was, it was his first time outside on his own and not only was he overwhelmed with all the people and noises and lights everywhere but he felt like he would get kidnapped any second.

Jisung was currently inside a tech store, looking for an external hard drive and specific video game. Felix and Chan had talked to him about needing these things, Chan the hard drive and Felix the video game. And after looking both things up online, Jisung had realised that they were currently on sale and cheap enough for him to buy. Just when he was about to grab the hard drive, a middle aged man talked to him. "I'm sorry, do you work here? I'm looking for wireless headphones but I can't find them", the man asked and although he didn't say anything bad, Jisung still didn't know what to respond. He hadn't expected anyone to talk to him. "N-No, I don't w-work h-here.", he said bluntly and the man looked at him with slight confusion but simply walked away.

Once the man was gone, Jisung dropped down on his knees. Maybe he couldn't do it; maybe he just wasn't ready to be outside on his own yet. Grabbing the items he wanted to buy, he quickly paid and left the store. He had bought a gift for Minho already, so he technically didn't need anything else. With rising panic inside of him, he pulled out his newly bought phone and clicked on the call button next to Minho's name. "Come on, pick up", he mumbled to himself, feeling his eyes fill with water. "Hi, Ji. What's up?", Minho finally accepted the call and Jisung broke down crying, not able to say a word. "Hey, hey, hey, Ji. Calm down. Where are you? Are you in danger?", the older tried to keep his voice calm but wasn't too successful at that. "S-Shopping M-Mall. C-Can you p-pick m-me up?", he stuttered out, walking towards the exit. "Yes, I'm on my way. Stay where you are", Minho ended the call and Jisung sat down on a bench, pulling his legs to his chest to keep himself warm in the cold weather.

Minho arrived less than five minutes later, running over to his roommate. "Hey, Jisung. Look at me. I'm here", he said, immediately pulling the younger into a hug. Jisung clenched onto him, still crying. "What made you cry, hm?", Minho asked and pulled the other's chin up to meet his eyes. "I-I w-wanted t-to buy gifts for you a-and s-someone t-talked to m-me and I-I didn't k-know what t-to say, s-so I p-panicked a-and said s-something i-impolite a-and ran a-away after paying", he explained sobbing and Minho smiled sadly. "Oh, cutie. Why did you go on your own? I could've gone with you to make sure you are safe", he asked and Jisung just shrugged, before mumbling out a silent explanation. "I wanted to buy hyungie also a present. He would've seen", he said and Minho gulped. There it was again, Jisung's childlike voice and behavior. It had occurred almost daily during the past week but usually only for an hour or two. Jisung never spoke about it, perhaps he didn't even notice a difference. Minho and Chan had done some research on it and learned about something called little space. It was basically what Minho had already guessed: a teenager or adult slips into the mindset of a young child, toddler or baby and act like a person that age. These people are called littles and need a caregiver, someone who functions like a parent for them because they often aren't able to take care of themselves on their own. Littles usually own comfort items like sippy cups, pacifiers, stuffed animals, toys and comfortable children's clothing. Minho hadn't gotten a chance to confront Jisung about it yet, being too scared to bring up such a sensitive topic to the younger.

"Well, now you did it on your own and we can't change it anymore. Do you want hyungie to take you home?", Minho adjusted his voice and way of talking a little bit and picked up Jisung as soon as he nodded. "Let's take a taxi. It's snowing a lot and I don't want my sweet baby to catch a cold", he said and gently stroked the younger's head while waiting for a taxi.

Fifteen minutes later, the two arrived at their apartment and Jisung immediately ran into his room to grab his coloring book and his crayons. "Jisung, come back here and take your shoes and jacket off! You are making everything dirty!", Minho yelled, trying to still sound friendly, although he was very annoyed at himself for letting him go. "But daddy I wanna dwaw", Jisung complained coming back into the hallway. That was new. Jisung had never called Minho daddy before and Minho honestly didn't know how to react to that. Now he definitely had to talk to Jisung about it. But he decided to just get along with it as long as Jisung was behaving like this. "You can draw after taking off your shoes and jacket. And we should get you changed into something more comfortable. How does that sound, hm?", Minho said, and Jisung nodded begrudgingly, allowing Minho to help him with his clothes.

"You dwaw with me?", Jisung asked his hyung once he was changed into a hoodie and shorts. "Sure, I can draw with you. But I have to make food for you and Felix later. He should come back from practice in half an hour or so", he answered and the two settled on the floor in the living room with Jisung's coloring supplies. Minho was amazed how good little Jisung was at coloring inside the lines and the two did that for about twenty minutes before Jisung grew tired of the activity. "Daddy make food now?", he asked, putting away his things and the older chuckled. "Yes, I'm going to make dinner now. Do you want to help Daddy?", Minho offered and Jisung pouted. "Nu-uh! Sungie wanna wap his pwesents fo his hyungies", he explained and waddled into his room where he had put his gifts.

About a minute later, Felix came home. "I'm home, everyone!", he yelled and walked into Jisung's and Minho's room, not knowing the little was packing his Christmas presents in there. "Hey, Ji-", the freckled boy started but was interrupted by a loud scream. "Nuh! Get out, you not see!", the other yelled and Jisung immediately started crying. Minho ran over to the two, scanning them for any injuries. Jisung was trying to hide his presents with his arms and only started crying more when Minho tried to come closer. "No, go away! It was supposed to be a surprise!", he yelled, his voice back to normal and his words more clear. Felix instantly left the room, now understanding what his almost twin was so upset about. "Jisung, you can hide the gifts before you talk to me. But please let us have a conversation", Minho said and left the room to wait outside the door. 

Jisung put his things away and allowed Minho to come back in. His eyes were still red and swollen from crying. "What did you want to talk about?", he asked, signaling his hyung to sit down next to him. "Do you notice that you behave like a child from time to time?", Minho asked straight forward and Jisung looked at him with a scared expression, afraid the other might not like his behavior. "I-I do. B-But I don't r-really have c-control over it", the younger admitted and Minho nodded in understanding. "I thought so. Don't worry, none of us think you are weird or anything. I actually did some research on it and know it is a common reaction to your childhood trauma. And especially Felix and I are always going to help you and take care of you. But you need to find a way to control your regressing. Not only can it get you into danger if you slip on your own outside but it will also have an impact on your trainee days if you pass the audition next week. You are going to be busy and you won't be able to slip as often, depending on your roommates", Minho explained and the younger nodded. "Thank you for taking care of me so good", his voice was silent and shy and Minho couldn't help but coo at his roommate. "I will always take care of you", he whispered, pulling him into a loving hug.