Oh darling, don't you ever grow up

Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little

Oh darling, don't you ever grow up

Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple

Taemin cursed himself as he ran haphazardly down the city sidewalks of Seoul, knowing very well that Minho would be scared and worried that his hyung wasn’t there to pick him up.

Unfortunately and thankfully, Taemin received a number of requests today at work.

You see, Taemin didn’t just work as a waiter and cashier at the little café across from his apartment, but he also did some piano performance on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday afternoons from noon until about 3 pm.

Minho’s first grade classes ran until around 3:30, and Taemin would usually pick him up around 3:45, but that wasn’t the case today. Thanks to his performance of Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, he developed quite a crowd and received a number of requests that took him over his time limit. But requests equalled money, and money equalled better food and paid bills.

Dodging a tree and avoiding running into an ajumma, Taemin, in less than 10 minutes, found himself in front of Minho’s little elementary school, out of breath and tired. Smiling regardless, the pianist made his way to the back of the school where the big playground was in search of his little brother.

Sure enough, the moment the playground came into view, so did Minho’s little form. The boy was laughing and running around as one of the school teachers chased him around.

“You’d better watch out! The dragon’s getting closer!” the young male teacher exclaimed, playfully growling to add drama to the scene. Minho screamed and giggled as he ran closer and closer towards Taemin, completely unaware of his hyung’s presence. A few seconds passed before Minho was within Taemin’s reach. The younger boy was so focused on looking backwards to make sure that he wouldn’t get caught by his teacher that he yelped in surprise when Taemin scooped him up.

“Hyungie!” Minho cried happily, smiling broadly, “save me from the dragon!”

Taemin feigned surprise as he held the boy close.

“A dragon?” he asked, over exaggerating his actions as he looked around, “where?”

“There,” Minho whispered in reply, pointing at his teacher, who was smiling broadly at this point.

“Ahh, Minnie, that’s no dragon. That’s your teacher. Be nice to him,” Taemin replied, chuckling quietly at his brother’s silliness. Minho, however, was determined that the man was a dragon and hid his face in his hyung’s shirt. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes playfully, Taemin turned to the shorter male and said,

“I’m sorry for being late. My job kept me a few extra minutes.”

“Oh, it’s really no problem at all. I had to stay after to help Kibum-seonsaengnim with some planning,” the teacher replied casually, returning a friendly smile.

“Planning?” Taemin inquired.

“Oh!” the teacher exclaimed suddenly, laughing at his own incompetence, “I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Kim Jonghyun, and I am a senior at Seoul National University majoring in early childhood education. I’m here student teaching with Kim Kibum, Minho’s first grade teacher.”

“Welcome to the area, Jonghyun-ssi,” Taemin said kindly, bowing his head in respect (he would have bowed properly, but Minho in his arms prevented him from doing so), “do you like it so far? Working here?”

“Oh, it’s fantastic,” Jonghyun replied cheerfully, looking around the area, “this is my dream job. I absolutely adore little kids, and your little brother here is absolutely precious.”

“Thank you, that means a lot to me,” Taemin said, smiling gently, “what do you say, Minnie?”

Minho turned his cute head slightly to see what was going on before he whispered a barely audible “thank you” to Jonghyun, who chuckled loudly.

“Alright, Minnie-ah, the dragon gives up. Can we be friends again?” he asked in a soft, playful voice. Minho peeked his head out slightly once again before nodding slightly. Jonghyun laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair before stepping back a few steps.

“Well, it’s best we head home,” Taemin said after a moment of silence, “thank you so much again, Jonghyun-ssi. You seem very well trained and know how to play and act with children. Thank you, I’m very impressed.”

Jonghyun blushed very slightly and bowed respectfully in thanks.

“Thank you…”

“Taemin. Lee Taemin.”

“Lee… Lee… Wait, isn’t Minho’s last name Ch-”

“Good-bye for now, Jonghyun-ssi!”

“Bye dragon!”

Jonghyun smiled broadly, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but be curious as to why the brothers possessed different surnames.

When the pair returned to their apartment, Taemin wasn’t shocked to see Jongin sitting on the couch, watching some cheesy drama on their little TV while doing some homework. Taemin trusted the younger enough to give him a key to the apartment (he practically lived there, anyway)

“Good afternoon,” Jongin said cheerfully, turning his body to face Taemin and Minho, “you’re a little late… did anything happen?”

“No, nothing out of the ordinary,” Taemin replied, letting go of Minho’s hand and allowing the boy to run to Jongin, “I just got extra requests at work.”

“Ah,” was all Jongin replied, and that fact upset Taemin a little.

Isn’t he going to ask about my pieces?

Regardless, Taemin put on a smile and walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Jongin.

“Here,” the younger said after a few seconds, pushing a bowl on the coffee table towards Taemin’s side, “I made some manduguk and kongnamul for us to eat for dinner. Thought you’d be hungry.”

“O-oh!” Taemin exclaimed, honestly a bit surprised, “where did you get the dumplings? I haven’t gotten those for weeks…”

Jongin chuckled as he stared back at the now muted TV.

“From my house. Seeing you and Minho eat ramyun for dinner every night honestly makes me worry about your health and sodium levels, so I decided to spoil my two favorite Lee brothers and cook them a nice dinner. And before you say anything, Lee Taemin-” Jongin pointed a teasing accusatory finger at his hyung, who was about to protest, “-yes, it was necessary, and I wanted to do this. Oh, and we’re going to park after we eat.”