Your little hand's wrapped around my finger

And it's so quiet in the world tonight.

Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming

So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light.

Taemin stared down at his favorite little angel with a sad yet genuine smile on his face. He couldn’t even put into words how much he already loved his younger brother, even if hasn’t known the boy for all that long.

All he can think about is how lucky he is to still have Minho in his life. Before the accident, his family was his life.

After the accident, Taemin and Minho were left alone in the world. No more umma, no more appa, and no more Taesun- they were alone.

Now, Minho is his life. The adorable 4 year old ball of happiness is what he works, breathes, and lives for.

Taemin had to drop out of his senior year of high school for the time being to take up a job to pay for himself and Minho’s expenses. His best friend, Kim Jongin, often came over after school to look after Minho while he was at work (the guy was a genius and didn’t really need to study all that much, thank goodness)

Life was hard. Really hard. Much harder than an 18 year old’s life should be. So hard, that Taemin sometimes wanted to give up. He couldn’t, though. All of his hard work was for Minho, his precious little brother. That’s what mattered.

The two sat together on the couch in their apartment’s living room. They had been watching cartoons and eating instant ramyun (since that was the only thing Taemin could afford at the moment)

Taemin chuckled quietly when he felt Minho grip his fingers ever so slightly with his tiny hand.

“Hyungie?”

Minho’s sleepy voice brought Taemin back to reality. The older boy looked down and stared into his brother’s big brown eyes.

“Yes, Minnie?”

Minho’s already large eyes widened even more as he replied,

“Where are umma and appa and Taesunnie hyung?”

Taemin’s heart dropped as his once bright smile faded into a lugubrious frown.

Over the past few days, Taemin had been telling his younger brother that the rest of their family was “away”, because he just couldn’t bring himself around to tell the boy they wouldn’t be coming back. His heart still hurt too much.

“Away, baby,” Taemin mumbled as he kissed Minho’s thick black hair.

Thankfully Minho was young enough to not have a good long term memory yet and couldn’t tell Taemin that he’d used the same excuse for the past 5 days.

“Oh,” was all Minho replied.

Another long pause followed as Taemin tried his best to settle his breathing and remain composed.

Deep breaths… Stay strong…

“Minnie,” Taemin said a few minutes later, “you know that Tae hyung loves you, right?”

Minho giggled softly, making Taemin’s heart flutter.

“Minnie knows! Minnie loves Tae hyungie too! This much!”

Minho giggled again and stretched his arms out as far as he could. Taemin couldn’t help but smile like an idiot- he was a shameless slave to Minho’s aegyo and cuteness.

“Come here, Minnie.”

Taemin, to Minho’s delight, suddenly scooped the younger boy into his arms and jumped up, spinning them around in circles.

“Hyungie!” Minho squeaked as he gripped Taemin’s shirt as tightly as he could. Taemin merely laughed as he spun them around a few more times, enjoying Minho’s giggles. His own father would do this with him and Taesun when