Author's Note: I wasn't really planning on writing another fic but I recently read a fic with deaged Neal and Mozzie and I fell in love with the idea of them as kids.
Then I imagined them as brothers and this is what happened.
I wrote this first chapter and if people show interest in it I will continue it.
Also English is not my first language so all mistakes are mine.

CHAPTER 1

The young boy's stomach growled and as he checked his wristwatch he realized that it was dinnertime already.
That meant that he had to wake up the sleeping beauty in their bed and drag said sleeping beauty out in the cold to get some food. It sounded simple in theory but in reality, he was going to have to deal with a tired, cranky four-year-old.
But he didn't have a choice, there were no food in the apartment and he couldn't leave his brother alone, if Neal woke up alone he would have a total meltdown, believing that Mozzie had abandoned him.
Mozzie walked over to the bed and shook the tiny boy's shoulders. His brother groaned.

"Tired"

He mumbled but Mozzie kept shaking him until he revealed his baby blue eyes.
Neal tried his best to give Mozzie an angry look, but despite his best efforts he still looked adorable.

"Come on, we have to get some food"
"Not hungry"
"It's going to be dark soon"

That statement was enough for the cranky kid to reluctantly get out of the bed.
It always did the trick, since Neal was absolutely terrified of the dark.

They walked into a local diner and sat down in one of the booths.
A waitress approached their table with a skeptical look on her face.

"Aren't you two a little too young to be here all alone?"
"Our dad had to work overtime so he told us to get something to eat. He works over there"

The lie naturally left Mozzie's mouth as he pointed towards the coffee shop across the street.
It was most likely his confident answer and the matching pair of innocent smiles that made the waitress believe the lie and give them their menus without further questions.
Mozzie picked up his menu and looked through it.
It was rare for him to be able to look at the menu and not worry about the prices.
For once Mozzie had a whole bundle of money in his pocket, and it felt good to not worry about money for one night.
Although he was far from proud of how they had gotten hold of the money.
The brothers had been walking down the street when they encountered a man sitting in a slouched position on the ground.
The man was nothing more than skin and bones and he had big, thick sunglasses covering his eyes, indicating that he was blind.
In his bony hands was a piece of cardboard with a shaky, handwritten plea for money.
Mozzie had told Neal to grab some of the money from the dirty bowl placed in front of the man.
His baby brother had asked if it was really okay, because the empathetic little boy could see that the man was clearly in need of money and help.
His brother was still learning to read so he couldn't understand the sign so it had been easier for Mozzie to insist that it was fine.
Neal had an immense trust in his older brother so he walked to the bowl and grabbed two handful of bills and putting them in his pockets.
Mozzie hated that Neal had to perform this horrible act, but if they got caught it was easier to claim that he didn't know any better. Neal's babyface and puppy eyes was enough to convince anyone that he was just an innocent little kid not realizing that he had done something wrong.
Mozzie was less adorable and if he got caught red handed, he guessed people would be more willing to call the police or worse; contact their uncle.
Their uncle wouldn't be mad at them for stealing, he would just be mad that they were stupid enough to get caught.
Luckily no one saw Neal's theft and the two boys could walk away.
Mozzie had almost felt proud until he heard a quiet, hoarse 'thank you' behind him.
The sound of their footsteps and the rustling of money must have made the poor man think that they were giving him money, not taking it from him.
That made Mozzie feel sick to his stomach and if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to feed his little brother then he would've returned the money without thinking twice about it.

The two boys left the diner with their stomachs full and Mozzie actually felt content, a feeling that disappeared the second they stepped into the apartment and spotted their uncle sitting by the table, practicing chess.
Mozzie immediately tensed up, it was impossible to know what kind of mood their uncle was in.
The man wasn't cruel per se, he could actually be pretty nice from time to time.
Sure he left the children alone without food for sometimes days on end, and he didn't really care about his nephews but at least he wasn't the kind of bad person who used the children as punching bags.
No their uncle Keller wasn't one for psychical violence, but on the few occasions that he did lash out Mozzie had been able to take every single blow so that his brother didn't have to.
Keller was more into playing games and messing with their minds, and in a way that was just as bad especially for young Neal who was still so innocent and naïve.
The worst part was probably that the man liked to use the children for his own gain, in this case use them in his various illegal activities.
The boys had done everything from crawling through small spaces to distracting security guards while Keller made his move.
None of the kids enjoyed it and the late nights was the reason that Neal was so exhausted all the time, but they had no choice but to help their uncle.
Mozzie knew what would happen if their uncle threw them out, they would end up on the street which was not a safe place for kids to live or they would end up in the system with the risk of being separated.
So they just had to endure, because this was better than the alternative.
At least they always had a roof over their heads and thanks to their stealing they never went to bed hungry.

Mozzie helped his brother off with his jacket before he brushed some dark curls away from the boy's eyes, he really needed a haircut.

"You should get ready for bed"

He told him and the kid quietly complied, normally Neal was always putting up a fuss about bedtime, he didn't want to go to bed even a second before Mozzie no matter how exhausted he was but with Keller in the room the boy didn't dare to protest.

"You should stop babying him"

Keller said in a casual tone as soon as the younger brother was out of earshot.
Mozzie refrained from answering, he knew that he was very overprotective when it came to Neal but he was the only real family he had left, and besides he had promised.
It was the last thing he ever said to his mother, the very last words that their mother had ever heard.
'I'll take care of Neal, I promise'.
Of course when he made that promise he had already been taking care of Neal for over a year, he had been more of a parent to the kid than their mother had.
The 7-year-old gave up his childhood in order to care for the 3-year-old but also for the pale, fragile woman who were stuck in her bed, getting sicker for every day that passed.
He had long since forgotten what it was like to be just a kid and not a caregiver.

An hour later, after playing a round of chess with his uncle and Keller telling him about his next job which would involve the kids, Mozzie could finally go to bed.
He smiled when he saw his brother, Neal had managed to fallen asleep while sitting up on the bed.
He had most likely waited for Mozzie but had lost the fight against sleep.
Mozzie shook his brother shoulders and the kid jerked away, looking around in confusion before his eyes landed on Mozzie.

"Waited"

Neal said. For some reason the four-year-old often only said one or two words at the time, and despite Mozzie's best efforts the boy refused to learn to use full sentences
He pulled back the covers and the two boys crawled into the bed.
The younger clutched a teddy tightly in his arms while the older wrapped a protective arm around his brother.
They had made it through yet another day, and they were one step closer to being old enough to get away from their uncle.