Taemin stared with the most concentration at the field in front of him. Originally he thought about sitting up with Onew hyung, Jonghyun hyung, and Key umma, but Minho hyung and his friends wanted him down where they could see him, so he did as he was told and stayed right by the coach the entire time, making sure not to wander off when he heard screams again. That wouldn’t be a good idea anyway. He’d have to talk to a lot of people because everyone on both sides of the field were screaming, and Minho hyung told him not to talk to strangers.

It was dark outside, and Key umma made sure he wore his warmest sweater in case he got cold, because he got cold easily. They were at Minho hyung’s game, and Taemin wasn’t really sure what was going on. Minho hyung had taught him a few things, and he learned quite a bit during his hyung’s practice, but it was still so confusing. He didn’t understand most of the game. All he knew was that his hyung had to kick the ball into the net and everyone would scream “GOAL!” Taemin loved that part the most. It was really fun, and he got to throw his hands up in the air and yell with everyone else.

He looked up and saw Jonghyun hyung, Onew hyung, and Key umma sitting just a few rows above him. Key umma wasn’t even pay attention most of the time, but he still looked up and cheered every once in awhile. Jonghyun hyung was yelling like a madman. Sometimes the words weren’t even in Korean, and Taemin had no idea what his hyung kept screaming, “Shoot!” Onew hyung was watching the game, cheering whenever necessary, but relatively quiet compared to Jonghyun hyung.

And then everything just seemed to stop for Taemin when he looked back at the field. The crowd all gasped. Minho hyung was pushed and he fell, rolling a bit before finally stopping, just two minutes before the game ended. Taemin wanted to run to his hyung and check if he was okay, but the referee beat him to it, and Coach hyung held him back. He couldn’t believe someone would do that to his hyung. He wanted to go to the guy, call him a meany pants and tell him he was going to get coal for Christmas because he was bad and Santa was going to put him on the naughty list.

Nichkhun hyung took over when his coach had to go and check on Minho hyung as well. Taemin clung to him, tears already gathering in his eyes because his hyung was hurt and he couldn’t believe someone would ever do that. His hyung was nice, he didn’t deserve to be hurt like that. He didn’t want his hyung to hurt. Minho hyung always kissed his boo boos to make them feel better. Maybe if he kissed hyung’s, it’d get better faster? He hoped it did, but he’d have to wait before he could. He had to wait for the game to end.

“Nichkhun hyung, w-why did he do that? Why d-did he hurt Minho hyung?”

“Because,” Nichkhun started, crouching down to his height, “sometimes during a game, people don’t think, and they do whatever they can to win.”

“H-He’s bad. He h-hurt hyung.”

Nichkhun wiped the tears that were already about to fall. Minho would kill him if he let Taemin cry like this. He needed to calm the boy down and fast.

“Yes, he’s bad Taeminnie, but Minho is going to be okay. Look, he’s already getting up. So cheer up okay? Hyung doesn’t like to see you sad.”

True enough, when Taemin looked back, Minho was already on his feet, talking to the referee and the coach. Taemin had never seen that look in his eyes before, and it kind of scared him. His sweet hyung looked really scary, and Taemin didn’t like it, not one bit. He didn’t like when his hyung looked like that, and he never wanted to see him like that again.

“Hyung looks scary,” Taemin said, stepping back into Nichkhun’s arms.

“He’s just mad, as he should be,” Nichkhun said. “Is he scaring you?”

Taemin hated to admit it, but it was. The look on his hyung’s face was scaring him. He wasn’t used to seeing Minho hyung so mad, furious. This wasn’t like his hyung at all, and he wanted his hyung back. His nice, happy looking hyung. His hyung that was concentrated on the game, serious, but nonetheless happy. This hyung was anything but.

“A little,” Taemin admitted. “I don’t like scary hyung.”

“I know what you mean Taeminnie, but remember this. Even is Minho is mad, he is still good. He’s not bad, okay?” Taemin nodded and continued to watch the game. Coach hyung came back to watch from the sides as the game progressed, but different this time, Taemin noted. This time, his hyung was alone, the other players of both teams far behind him, and a boy in front of him guarding the net. Taemin watched as Minho stared directly into the goalie’s eyes, eyes narrowed and serious, incredibly intimidating. Taemin himself flinched a bit at the look on his hyung’s face.

He watched as his hyung moved back, his gaze never leaving the goalie’s. Only once did it leave, and Minho hyung looked to the side before looking back. His noticed the goalie move a little to the side Minho hyung looked, and Taemin was confused. He was looking over there, but he didn’t see anything important.

Minho hyung moved forward quickly, hitting the ball in front of his feet with so much force. The goalie, because he had moved so much to one side, failed to make it to the other side before the ball, and Taemin watched as the ball went in, and the whole crowd cheered, along with the team. He was happy to see the scary look on Minho hyung’s face gone and replaced by a much happier look. Much better than the one before, and much more like his normal hyung. Taemin liked this side of his hyung much better.

Nichkhun hyung went in and Taemin went back to Coach hyung, watching the rest of the game with him. All that was really left was to keep the ball and make sure the other team didn’t make another goal. Minho hyung’s team was already winning, 3–2, and Taemin was happy that his hyung was back to his usual self.

The timer reached zero and the crowd cheered enthusiastically. The team formed a large group, hugging whoever was in arm’s reach, and Taemin ran over to them as soon as he could. Minho hyung was in the middle of it all, but he managed to make it. He had to go through a few legs, but he managed pretty well.

He tugged on Minho’s shorts as soon as he could, and when his hyung saw him, he wasted no time in picking Taemin up and spinning him around before placing him on his shoulders, giving Taemin a better view of the whole field. As soon as he was down, he was passed around amongst the team. He had grown quite close with all of them, some more so than others. He really liked these hyungs. They were really nice to him.

Taemin held Minho’s hand as the two teams lined up, facing each other before moving forward, giving the other team’s players a high five. When passing the player Taemin say push his hyung, he gave the teen a stern look, like the one Key umma always gives Jonghyun hyung when he does something he wasn’t supposed to. He wasn’t sure if it worked, but he hoped it did. This boy was a meany, and Taemin didn’t like meanies.

“Hey Minho? Party to celebrate?” one of the players said.

“Nah, I’m tired. I’m just going home with Minnie and the hyungs,” Minho said.

“That’s no fun,” the teen said.

“I disagree. Pokémon is by far the greatest show on tv, and always fun to watch, isn’t it Taeminnie?”

“You smell funny hyung, and you’re sticky.”

Minho wasn’t sure if this was just because Taemin was a kid, or because he was just musically inclined since birth. Taemin loved music, adored it. He could barely keep up with the words, but he still loved listening to it. Of course, Minho had to monitor exactly what Taemin listened to. Much of the music on the radio was too vulgar for dear Taeminnie’s innocent ears. Minho couldn’t allow him to hear such revolting things.

Everyone knew Jonghyun had a wonderful voice, and he loved to show it off, and Taemin loved listening. Sometimes Jonghyun would teach Taemin the song first, so they could sing together, though Jonghyun would sing at a much slower pace so that Taemin could keep up. Even those songs were monitored, by himself and Kibum, because they just didn’t trust Jonghyun to keep the songs at least PG.

Karaoke was always something they enjoyed doing. It was always funny finding out who scored higher than who. No one expected to score higher than Jonghyun though, and they were okay with it. Taemin always tried his best though, sometimes refusing help and choosing to sing on his own. His score was never too bad, for a kid at least.

Then there was dancing with Key. Of course, for a kid, dancing wouldn’t be easy. Taemin still sort of waddled everywhere, and his balance wasn’t very good. His movements were slow, so it was always hard to keep up. Usually, he’d have to just sit and watch Key do the dance, and when he did, he wasn’t happy. However, Minho could see in his eyes that Taemin was watching every move Key made like a hawk, trying not to miss a single thing.

When it came to instruments, Taemin had a strange fascination with the piano. Minho had a strong feeling he’d be putting the boy in piano lessons sometime in the future. Taemin would sometimes just sit in the living room, coloring and listening to whatever piano cd Onew had bought him. So far, he noted that Yiruma was definitely Taemin’s favorite. He’d play all the cds he could, but he’d always land back to Yiruma.

So yes, Minho had no doubt in his mind that Taemin was musically inclined, and would have some type of future involving music. There was no question about it. Despite that though, he wasn’t sure if he wanted his Taeminnie becomes an idol. It was a lot of work, and a lot of pressure. Not to mention they’d work him to the bone, constantly change his style, and hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions would be watching him. Minho did not like the idea of people’s erted eyes watching his Taeminnie. Taemin was much too innocent for that. Too innocent. There was no way he was letting his little brother be shown off like that. Who know what crazy revealing outfit they’d put him in?

Minho felt himself hyperventilating, and Taemin was only four years old. It’d be a long time before Taemin could even consider becoming an idol star. Unless they put him into those kids CFs or maybe signed him up for Hello Baby. That would be cute, but he wouldn’t stand other people taking care of Taemin in his place, if it wasn’t one of his close friends. He knew nothing about those idols, so he didn’t trust them. Though he was sure if he told Key or Jonghyun about the idea, they’d jump for joy, especially Key who just loved dressing Taemin up. They’d definitely be all for it.

Would Taemin even like the idea? He doubted it. Taemin didn’t like being away from him for too long, and if they did put Taemin on a show like Hello Baby, he’d barely see Taemin since he’d be staying with the idols.

So no, he would definitely not make Taemin be an idol.

But well, that was also Taemin’s decision when he was older. If he wanted to do it, he would, and Minho would support whatever decision he made.

“Key umma! Can we go to the moon?”

“Taeminnie, why do you want to go to the moon?”

“B-Because Jongin said the moon was made of cheese! I really like cheese!”

Definitely, Minho hoped Taemin would never grow up. It were times like these that were really endearing. Every kid was curious, but sometimes Taemin just asked and said the most absurd things, Minho found it hard not to laugh. He really loved answering these questions, even though sometimes it was a bit scary. He’d never forget the time Taemin asked him where babies came from, and his he would get pregnant. Too cute.

“Minho hyung?” Taemin asked, pulling on his pant leg to get his attention.

“Yes Minnie?”

“Always be happy.”

Minho was confused. He was expecting some ridiculous question, not that. Taemin seemed very serious about it too, as serious as a kid could be of course. He had no idea where Taemin got the idea to tell him this, but he guessed it was his turn to ask questions, and for Taemin to answer.

“Why do you mean?”

“B-Because, a-at the game, Minho hyung got m-mad. M-Minho hyung looked s-scary,” Taemin said. Minho felt a little pang in his heart. He had hoped Taemin hadn’t seen that, but then again, he did notice the look Taemin was giving the player that pushed him at the end of the game. It was understandable that he was mad, yes, and he had all the reason to be, but he didn’t think it would scare Taemin so much. Had he known, he would have tried to control his temper a bit more.

“Where you scared of me Taeminnie?”

Taemin looked down, afraid to look in his hyung’s eyes, because he didn’t like to admit it. He nervously nodded, hoping he hadn’t made his hyung mad at him. He really wished he didn’t feel this way, but he couldn’t help it. His hyung looked scary when he was mad, and he didn’t like it at all. He wanted his hyung to always be happy, so that he wouldn’t see that ever again.

He could see in the corner of his eye that Minho had sat down cross-legged on the floor, and pulled him down to sit on his lap.

“I’m sorry Taeminnie, please don’t be scared,” Minho said, hugging Taemin close to him. “I’ll try not to be angry again, but you have to promise me one thing Taeminnie, okay?”

“Okay hyung.”

“Promise me you’ll never forget to smile.”

Taemin looked up at his hugging, giving him the brightest smile he could, because he couldn’t stay scared of his Minho hyung. Not when his hyung was so kind to him like this.

“Pinky promise.”

“Hyung!!!!”

Taemin ran as fast as his little legs could take him, out of the room and searching for his protector.

He wasn’t doing anything wrong, honest. He was just coloring and listening to songs when a monster showed up out of nowhere. The thing was evil! And scary looking! It may be smaller than him, but it was definitely trying to kill him, no doubt about it. But Minho hyung was bigger, and strong! He’d definitely get rid of the monster.

He ran to his hyung’s room, though he didn’t have to run far, because his hyung had met his half way, looking completely panicked. As he should be! There was a monster in the house!

“What’s is it Taeminnie? Are you hurt? What’s wrong?”

“Hyung! M-Monster! There!”

“Monster?” Minho asked. Taemin nodded frantically and grabbed his hyung’s hand, pulling him towards the living room where he had been coloring. “What did this monster look like?”

“I-It was big! And s-scary! I-It’s scary hyung!”

“Okay, okay, let’s go defeat the monster then.”

The moment they arrived at the living room, Taemin looked around everyone, trying to find the monster again so that Minho hyung could kill it. No monster stood a chance against a big strong dragon. Minho hyung would definitely defeat the monster!

“H-Hyung! Hyung! T-There!”

Minho looked up from searching on the floor to where Taemin was pointing, spotting a little spider crawling up the wall. He nearly chuckled, but he held it in so that Taemin wouldn’t be upset that he was laughing at him. Minho knew he was no one to judge though. He himself had screamed whenever he saw strawberries when he was Taemin’s age. A fear of spiders was much more normal than a few of strawberries. He was proud to say that he has gotten over that fear though, so nothing to worry about now while dealing with the delicious fruit.

He grabbed whatever he could to help him on his quest to battle the beast. He got a newspaper from the kitchen, rolled it up, and smacked it. Taemin clapped and cheered behind him, and he grinned, feeling smug that he killed the monster for Taemin.

“You did it! You did it!”

“Yep, now I just have to throw it away, so that we’ll never see him again,” Minho said. He walked back to the kitchen and scraped the spider off, before throwing the newspaper in the recycling bin. He was trying to get Taemin into good habits, and recycling was a good thing. Taemin still sometimes got confused between recyclables and trash, but he was slowly getting used to it.

Dinner was as rowdy as ever with Key and Jonghyun usually bickering, Onew playing with his food to make Taemin laugh, and Minho trying to make sure Taemin didn’t make a mess with his food. Taemin wasn’t much of a messy eater, but kids were kids, and most kids were messy eaters. Taemin was no exception. Though, it was arguable that Jonghyun was messier than Taemin.

He’d make sure Taemin didn’t get any of Jonghyun’s many bad habits.

Okay, so I said that after the last chapter, Taemin would be growing up. But I couldn't help it. I forgot I said that when I started writing this, so starting next chapter, he will be growing up!

I was supposed to post this earlier, but I was dragged away to watch G.I. Joe: Retaliation (pretty good movie), so I didn't get to finish when I wanted to.

Anyway, thank you for reading! Please don't be silent readers! I like to know you're there!

PLEASE COMMENT and tell me what you think! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Bye bye~ See you next time~