hc + jun :,,,,)
the baby was crying again.
at some point during the middle of the night, jaewon decided he couldn’t take it anymore and since somehow the nanny hadn’t heard the screaming infant, apparently, it was left up to him to take care of this. his parents’ rooms were on the other side of the mansion– there was no way they could hear small, baby jun throwing a fit in his crib. jaewon hated the sound of newborns crying, thought it sounded too desperate, but he went into the rooms belonging to the youngest anyway, determined to figure out what was wrong.
he didn’t know how to change a diaper so he worried a bit, but as soon as he walked in, he could tell that wasn’t the issue. the little boy had vomited and come unwrapped from his blankets, shivering a bit from the temperature of the room (and damn it, where was that nanny?). jaewon looked around for a few moments before finding some towels, cleaning the spit up and throwing the blankies onto the floor. no more of that. now that jun was cleaner, he ought to go back to sleep but jaewon didn’t know how to swaddle a baby. he knew he needed warmth and comfort, but the young eleven-year-old prince had never even so much as held his baby brother until this point.
but welp. there was a first time for everything. he’d seen how his mother and the nannies all held little jun, so he did his best to emulate them, scooping the child up from his crib, into his arms, leaning him against his chest and shoulder. it felt super awkward, but he patted the baby’s back and rocked him side to side. “shhh, shhh, you’re too loud…” after a few more minutes, jun finally calmed down enough to just start rubbing his eyes and lean on jaewon heavily.
and it was kind of nice, actually. as soon as jun stopped screaming in his ear, jaewon noticed that he was pretty cute; tiny fingers, tiny lips, tiny furry head. big eyes though, staring at jaewon with a trust that broke his heart. soft, sweet little baby brother, curling up against his chest to fall back asleep and jaewon wondered if he could sleep that well because he knew he was loved. did he feel safe? so sweet and trusting, so small and delicate, when the world outside was so scary…
“i’m going to protect you, okay?” he whispers as jun passes out against his chest, still rocking him slowly. “whatever monsters are out there, they’ll have to get through me to get to you, and i won’t let them get to you. i’ll become stronger than them, scarier than them if i have to be. i’ll always be here for you, i promise.”
