H.HJ X SKZ//OneShots

Regressed Ferret

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As per normal, the boys week was chaotic. With their latest Japanese comeback, they'd been doing interviews left and right. It wasn't that they didn't like doing these interviews, in fact they loved them. It was just the fact that they added to an already packed schedule, leaving little to no time for rest. Well, the kind of rest that wasn't sleep.

Tonight was better though. They'd done dance practice and ended up getting home earlier than normal. To add to that, their morning didn't start as early as normal either. They could sleep in to their hearts desires. And regress.

It was a little, pun intended, secret in the Stray kids household. With stress being a constant, all of the members needed ways to cope. That wasn't saying that all of them coped in the same ways, but a certain three did. Well, sort of. Minho and Felix were the littles of the group. Regressing any moment they could, with permission of course. They were allowed to regress whenever, they just wanted to make sure that their members were okay with taking care of them.

Thankfully when the two normally regressed, they were pretty close in age, so it wasn't like they needed to be taken care of much differently. Felix normally regressed to about age 4 while Minho at age 3. The two of course needed the babying, but that was kind of the whole point.

As for their other regressor, he was a bit different. Hyunjin had his own way of coping that was literally quite rare. He was a shapeshifter, which he always complained about that title when literally all he could change into was a ferret. Like Minho and Felix though, changing into that form was a major stress reliever. He didn't change ages at all, but it was like his stress would disappear due to the sudden size change. It was like there wasn't enough room for it all.

Life felt so simple as a ferret and he loved it. Normally when he changed he did a bunch of sleeping and cuddling, except for the days he had way too much energy and ended up playing chase with one of the other members, if not all of them.

Except a couple weeks ago. Hyunjin remembers getting home one night after a solo dance practice to all the members huddled in the living room with two regressed boys. They were all cooing at how cutely the two were playing on the little play mat.

"Aish, you guys are so cute! And so easy to take care of!"

Hyunjin knows he probably shouldn't have thought of it in the way he did, but that didn't stop him. And it really didn't help that the others knew damn well he wasn't there when it was said. But When Chan had said that, it oddly felt like he was comparing the two with something else. Hyunjin of course didn't know what, but it was easy to assume that Chan was comparing them to him; the crazy little ferret.

Hyunjin had slinked in the room, smiling as if he wasn't hurt. He said hi to everyone, ruffling the two littles heads and them claiming he was going to take a shower. A shower where he ended up silently crying for 10 minutes. He took long showers though, it wasn't like the others would notice. Though after crying, the pain turned to anger and he'd set his resolve; no regressing.

It would be better that way. Besides, even if they were easy to manage, the others still had to take care of Minho and Felix. There was no way they had the room and energy for a ferret. They could get some of the rest back Hyunjin hadn't realized he was taking from them.

Since that night, he hadn't regressed. And maybe he would've felt like he could've if anyone asked why he hadn't done so seeing as it had been two weeks since he'd come upon his resolve. But no one did, and a part of him felt relieved. Maybe it was truly because he was so hard to take care of. Of course Hyunjin didn't think he was, but he wasn't a caretaker, how could he truly know?