This was made through the night while I struggled with insomnia. thought it was cute and funny and decided to post. Enjoy anyways :)

The sound of crying children was always, in a certain way, annoying to her ears. She had zero patience to deal with kid's drama, and when they wanted attention they were the best on doing it. And she was the best on ignoring them.

Impetuous, full of energy, not that much obedient and little prankers were some of the definition for the nephilim children, rare were the ones that couldn't even have their name remembered once there was zero attention drawn to them. They were always the best ones to take care of, as they would usually just stand behind you, silently, do what you would ask them to or stay where you'd ask them to stay. One could say they've inherited the "angel part" of the mixture.

And Fury was so relieved her little brother was one of them.

From the ones of his age, War had always been the quieter one. He presence was undeniable, that was for sure, and the other kids wanted to stay with him as his tall figure, pretty unusual for kids his age - even with the nephilim factor to it -, could mean that the little devil kids wouldn't pick on them, but he just wanted his little space and be left alone. There were some trust issues with others, and he was more outgoing only with his brothers, that's why it impressed Fury that War had asked, by his own, to go out and play with the other kids.

A weird question coming from him that rendered her a few seconds of thought, but she let him go, as that meant he was finally making friends out of those mini demons and, perhaps, could put some sense into them.

And what was her surprise to hear War coming home, running towards her in his clumsy way that made it so adorable, but with the biggest pout she had ever seen on his mouth, having wattery eyes and a scratch on his left eyebrow, still a little bit of blood coming from it.

"Hey, what happened?"

"I made a booboo!" His voice was shaky, as if he was about to cry by any minute now, pointing to his wounded face.

"Getting into fights, War? That's not like you"

He looked down on the floor, his bright blue eyes sparkling as he sniffed loudly.

"The big kids wanted to hurt my friends and I said no."

She would never admit, but every time little War spoke like that, her heart would melt a little bit. Why was he so adorable?

She held him by the chin with a slight grip, wiping away the single tear that rolled down "Are you crying for the pain or because you think you acted wrong?"

The pout showed up again "Both...?"

"I don't know, you answer me" she laughed and kneeled in front of him "Hey, its a good thing you wanted to defend your friends, ok? And its normal that things don't go as you planned. You may be big for your age, but you're still a child. So, what do you say we go inside, you wash yourself and we clean that wound?"

He just nodded, rubbing his eyes to shove the tears away "will you tell Death i was a bad kid today?"

"Its fine being the bad kid once in a while, War." She picked him up as he hid her face on the crook of her neck "Besides, how would you hide that scratch from his prying eyes? He sees everything" she tickled him with her fingers and he curled up as a reaction "He's probably watching you now."

"Thats scary! Stop that!" And he hid his face again.

She laughed, patting his head sometimes "Alright, alright. Let's go inside" as she realised his angry scowl wouldn't go away, she decided to bargain "If that angry adorable face turns into a smile, I know where Death keeps your candy." She couldnt laugh louder as his face lit up in sudden excitement. "I won't tell if you don't tell"

"Deal!"

-/-

Taking care of War was not the best of the plans Strife could have thought on a day for himself. War could be the best kid in all universe and he loved his little brother with all his heart, but come on! On his free day? Who'd like it?

He could've just walked away when Death told him it was his time to watch their little brother, or just pushed it to Fury's hands and have her take care of him two days straight, and he would've had, had not Death told little War to follow Strife wherever he'd go.

Did he hate it? Absolutely. He dispised the fact Death usually could use of his "I'm the oldest" thing to make him do things without even having to pull out that card. He just needed to say it. And as little War would now follow him everywhere he went, that was not much he could do but to take care of him and be the responsible brother for once to avoid putting the little one on dangerous situations. The perks of War being the best kid ever, Strife only needed to tell him to keep close on his sight and watch out while he ran around and he could just stay chilling. Having his leisure activities resumed to just watch that little person running around some animals and climbing over small trees had him eventually falling asleep under the chill shadow of a big tree by the woods.

He knew his brother wouldn't stray too far even knowing he was asleep, so he could just take his nap without having to wake up every five minutes to make sure the little one hadn't killed himself, which was more than he could say about the other kids around.

His sense of responsibility, though, didn't let him sleep as deeply as he was intending to. He didn't want to leave his brother alone, anyways. It wasn't his preferred thing to do, but they always had fun together, so Strife ended up liking spending the day with the younger one. War was an easy child to make happy and just a simple game of hide and seek would be enough to entertain him for hours and put a smile on his face. He just wanted the company of his brothers, so anything on their presence would be enough for him.

With his eyes closed behind a thick tree trunk, Strife began the countdown for what felt like the tenth time already as War kept asking for more time to get a better hiding spot.

Well, there were only trees around and their house. He was running out of hiding spots and needed the best one to end the game victorious - even though the count was showing Strife as winner, but there was no need to remind the younger of that.

"Alright, no more adding time for you." Strife spun on his heels, looking at the vast field in front of him. He said War could hide anywere around there that he would be found "Ready or not, here i come" and started to look for his brother.

War had the small disavatage that Strife knew too well how to follow trails, and the ones made by War's heavy steps were so easily found that he kept himself wondering whether he'd end that up or leave him some time to think he was well hidden.

War thought that using the highest tree around would keep him from his brothers eyes, and believed it worked when Strife walked past the tree he was on and didn't even suspected a thing.

He muffled the sound of his joyful laughter with both hands, thinking that he had just won and just needed to get down and run back home to be "safe".

As he turned himself to have a better grip to get down, he found himself face to face with a rather smiley Strife, that had zero ideia of how much that would scare the hell out of the little one.

"Found you"

His eyes were wide open, the scream left his mouth, his hands slipped and he lost the grip he had on the thick wood and the only thing separating War from the floor were the tree branches along the way.

"Oh, shit..."

Faster than he could think, Strife dropped to the floor hoping he'd be able to catch War as he fell and avoid his brother breaking anything that later Death would break on him. He could only see the little one shielding his face from the branches with his arms as he fell.

War could be little, but he wasn't, in no way, light. Strife stretched his arms to catch him, but had to basically use his entire body to keep the kid from hitting the floor, receiving most of the impact on himself, but protecting the younger one.

As the initial shock started to worn off, Strife took a deep breath and sat up, still holding War tightly against his torso, and looking down to a terribly shaking little boy, clinging so hard to the older's clothes that he could just rip them.

"War, are you ok?" The question had no answer "Hey, War. Look at me. Are you ok?"

"You scared me!" He heard the muffled sound of his voice against the fabric of his clothes "Dont do that again!"

"OK, but I need to see if you're ok" he pushed the kid away from him, trying to take a look at him. Nothing seemed broken, but the speed of the fall against the branches rendered the little one thousands of scratches around his arms and face. "Thats it, Death will kill me" he said, rubbing his face and taking a deep breath.

War had the cutest pout forming on his mouth and his eyes were filled with tears "Oh, please, War, don't cry. These are just scratches. We can take care of them."

The little one started to mumble things Strife could barely understand. His main concern was Death seeing the scratches and getting mad at both of them.

"He will see my booboos" he lowered his head a little "he'll get amgry"

"Hey, it was my fault, I won't let him get mad at you" he looked closer to the scratches on the other's arms, looking a bit nastier than the ones on his face. "Lets take care of theese booboos and then we can just chill inside. No more hiding on trees for today."

"Okay..." his little pout was shaking and Strife sighed, feeling bad.

"Sorry I made you fall, little brother" he gently poked War's nose, standing up and brushing off his clothes to get all those leafs off of him.

"Thats ok..." he rubbed his bright blue eyes, wiping away the tears. "Mistakes happen..." his sweet little voice made the scene perfect and Strife could just hold his brother and squeeze his little cheeks right there, but refrained from doing so. War hated it.

Later that night, Strife rushed to put the little one to sleep before Death could even place his eyes on him, avoiding for a few hours having to listen to his never ending lecturing.

-/-

As the eldest brother looked at the youngest, wrapped up in his comfort blankets and snoring as usual, he just walked past his bedroom and assumed everything was just fine. As soon as he noticed Death was out if sight, Strife rushed inside the little one's bedroom with snacks under his arms, closing the door as slowly possible to avoid making any sound. The younger stood up, showing he could well fake being asleep, his eyes glowing at the sight of the snacks his brother brought.

"If Death sees us, he'll have our head" Strife whispered, carefully opening the snacks "But I wanted to make it up for getting you hurt today."

War lifted his index finger to his mouth, whispering "I promise to keep secret"

If there was one thing Death was fed up with was taking care of the younglings. Being a firstborn meant he had his share of little ones filling his patience with misbehaviour and annoying shouting. He'd rather go for recon on ten different places a day and come back extremely tired that it would still be better then the group of children that could be little devils when they wanted.

Save for War, his favourite little person.

Differently from other kids, War wasn't just good and quiet when Death was around. He'd just play quietly and slowly walk closer to his eldest brother until they were beside each other. His voice could barely be heard, only his humming to a random childish song he may have heard from the other kids, but nothing that would annoy Death as the others did. He enjoyed being with his little brother and enjoyed even more hearing his cute voice talking, asking things about his lessons or even cuddling up to him, even though he would deny it to the last second while everyone could clearly see it.

"Death" the sweet voice called "Can I play outside?"

"Have you finished your reading?"

"Yeah!" He stood up in a jump, showing him the closed book. "Everything"

"No cheating this time?" The scowl on the little one's face made Death giggle "Fine, I believe I you this time. You can go play."

"Won't you play with me?" The sweetest pout was forming, as well as his eyes sparkling as if he could convince his brother with his best puppy face.

"Not now." Death patted him in the head, seeing his brows narrowing as he hated when people did that.

"Stay near, grumpy, I'll be out in a few moments"

Death only had time to blink and War was already out, running so fast that anyone that looked from the outside would deduce the poor boy was being held prisoner.

War like being around the other kids, specially when noticing they were being nice and being actual friends to him, but he also liked playing by himself. He'd usually jump in the lake and spend hours playing in the water, without even noticing the day passing by and only coming out once Death dragged him by force. It would always trigger a tantrum, but the older one was well versed on how to calm his youngest sibling after years taking care of younglings.

Climbing trees was also something he loved to do, but since his last episode with Strife few weeks before, little War decided it was time to take a break from doing so. He didn't want to be covered in scratches and splinters or facing an entire hour of Death lecturing him again, so staying by its shadows was enough for him.

Waiting for his big brother for so long got him bored and after spending good hours swimming the boredom and tiredness eventually knocked him out. Arms and legs spread out on the grass, it would be one of those days that, by the time Death arrived, War wouldn't even wake up and would have to be carried home. One of the days that Death would actually have to bathe the little one that was so tired that looked like a ragdoll, being put on the bed right next and being seen only on the next day.

Well, it would've been just like that, if he hadn't desperately woken up grasping for air when he felt water pouring down on his face. Coughing a little, his bright blue eyes were trying to see and focus on anything he could and understand what had just happened, his heart racing with the thought that maybe he was in danger.

War was finally able to focus his sight on three people, identifying one of them as the kid he had an altercation with once, that was looking at him with mad eyes, a small rock on his hand going up in the air and then to his palm again, while the two other were way bigger, probably years older than them, just crossing arms while looking at him.

"Is this one, little brother?" The younger one just nodded, eyes still narrowed in a clear sign of anger. "Perfect"

The two older boys cracked their knuckles with an evil grin on their faces, slowly walking forward as if the fact that they were about to beat up a younger boy amused them.

War backed up a few steps until his back was against a tree trunk. He could be a brave boy sometimes, but well, he had never stood up against bigger bullies before, just the ones his age, and even though he could try to do something, it were two instead of one this time.

"We'll teach you a lesson, boy" they surrounded him "You don't go messing with our little brother and think that we'll leave it at that."

Paying attention only to the two boys, War didn't notice as the younger boy threw the rock on his direction with full strength, ending up hit on the forehead and opening a small cut that soon started to bleed.

"I told you you should be careful with me! I have my brothers to back me up!"

"What a coincidence..." The wind blew on their faces as the air got colder. In a blink of an eye, War saw himself behind his oldest brother as he blocked the way of the two boys in front of him "He also has"

The trio in front of them froze in place as Death stared right into their eyes with not a single face expression and yet almost making them shit their pants.

"Did they do anything to you, War?" Death looked at him over his shoulder.

"Um... No..." he rubbed where the rock had hit him seconds before, but that was a minor thing. "I'm good"

Death looked at the brothers again, inhaling deeply for a second and closing his eyes for a moment"You three better be gone by the time I open my eyes."

War giggled behind his brother, as he had never seen someone run so fast as those three did with a simple threat as that. Having a firstborn as a brother had its advantages, he knew it, but that was one of the best.

Death sighed, spinning on his heel and kneeling down to make sure his little brother was OK, specifically looking at the minor cut made on forehead "Making enemies already, War?" He chuckled.

"Its not my fault they want to hurt my friends..." The cutest angry pout formed on his face

"No, it is not" He thumbed away the fine trace of blood that insisted to roll down from the cut, seeing the bright blue eyes watter up.

"Its hurting"

"You'll live" he stood up "lets go home. Enough of playing for today. We'll take care of that cut at home and you will be fine."

"OK..." still with his pout, he started walking the path back to their home, his head lowered down as he still had plenty of energy to play if his brother would've suggested but was walking home instead.

Death sighed. He hated seeing little War saddened and promised himself that he would make it up for him another day. For that moment, he just decided it would cheer him up if he sat him down on his shoulders, as War always loved to do since a baby. The sad face vanished giving place to a rather big smile on his face.

"Can we go running?!" He asked, enthusiastically.

Death briefly smiled.

What wouldn't he do to make his little brother happy?