Little Things

The New Norm

Lemme say, first and foremost, any ooc-ness (Out-of-Character-ness) I must apologize for, for I had to dive head first into Super Junior and learn personalities so bear with me :)

I used Haru as a nickname ... don't kill me please ^_^'

In the midst of writing, I got caught up in wanting to swap between saying Eunhyuk and Hyuk Jae but I didn't XD

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Eunhyuk always wondered why his roommate would sometimes hole himself up in his room when they were both home. They talked, obviously since they were the best friends, but when the older would ask why the younger was always in his room Donghae would avoid the question.

"I'm just sleeping, hyung. What else would I do on my day off?" That's what he'd say but Eunhyuk knew better.

And sometimes at night, the elder would hear the voices of cartoon characters filtering out of his dongsaeng's room as he passes by to get to the kitchen. Eunhyuk never asked about it. So today... coming home early and seeing Donghae, his dongsaeng, asleep on the couch with a pacifier in his mouth and a bear plushie hugged to his chest caught him by surprise. To add to his shock, his dongsaeng is wearing overalls and a t-shirt, not something he sees every day.

"W-Why... What is he... Why does he look so adorable?" Eunhyuk finally mumbles, eyes wide as he stares down at the younger man. When Eunhyuk finally manages to drag his eyes away from Donghae, he notices the discarded crayons and coloring book on the floor.

Deciding that cleaning would be better than just staring, Eunhyuk puts the crayons back in the box and places both the box and book on the coffee table.

"Now what?" Eunhyuk mumbles, standing back up and scanning the living room. His eyes flicker back over to Donghae whose eyes are wide open as he stares back, his pacifier now having dropped from his mouth.

"Hey, Donghae-ah. You okay? You look like you're about to cry?" Eunhyuk says softly, not really sure how to approach this situation. He doesn't want to ask "Why are you acting like a kid?" because that seems incredibly insensitive at this moment.

"I could ask you the same, hyung. You look like you've seen a ghost. I hope you haven't." Donghae reflects quietly, hugging the plushie even closer to his chest as he sits up slowly.

Eunhyuk somehow finds it in himself to chuckle at his dongsaeng's mention of ghosts. He certainly had received a shock but not from a ghost.

"You gave me a shock, suddenly seeing you while I wasn't paying attention... So, my dear dongsaeng... would you like to explain this situation or should I look it up myself and ask you questions later?" Eunhyuk asks hesitantly, shifting side to side as he watches the younger man's expression change into one more focused and away; and Eunhyuk silently wonders what's going on inside his head.

"You ask me questions, hyung," Donghae answers before abruptly standing up, grabbing his child items and racing to his room.

"Well, that was... unexpected." Eunhyuk mumbles before collapsing on the couch, pulling out his phone moments later.

~~

Eunhyuk did his research, a ton of it. A Google search lead him to multiple sites, Tumblr included, and he found out a lot of things about his roommate's situation and what it's called. Littlespace.

'Littlespace is a mindset in which an adult relaxes into a state of carefree, responsibility-free safety. It may be a developed time in which an adult relives childhood memories, scenarios, or desires that were unachievable in their adolescence. An adult in littlespace may involve another adult referred to as a caregiver, engage in activities viewed as childish, and some may even participate in adult sexual interaction during their time in littlespace. While in littlespace, the adult is usually, but not always, referred to as an adult baby, little, or middle. A standard that all people interacting and involved in this type of scene is that they are all of legal adult age.'