A Cliché Family nine   Kibum climbs under his covers and makes sure his sons are asleep. Jonghyun usually sleeps in his own bed when Jinki is at home, but Jinki isn’t and Kibum has decided he needs some quality sleep with his sons. Minho is sleeping in the manually extended part of the bed and Jonghyun curls his hands into his small pillow and clings to it in his sleep. Kibum smiles and gently lets a hand run over the almost 4-year-old’s forehead and pushes his bangs aside. Then he turns carefully on his side so he can press his lips to the 15-months-old boy’s cheek. Minho fusses in his sleep and Kibum’s smile widens.

Kibum isn’t smiling when Minho wakes him up an hour later, however. The boy is crying and pulling at his ears as best as he can. Jonghyun wakes up because of his brother and starts to fuss as well. Kibum lifts Minho and holds him close while he tries to comfort both of them. It takes a few minutes before they fall asleep again but only 30 minutes later does Minho wake up again. Kibum climbs out of the bed and lifts Minho up. Jonghyun is still sleeping when he closes the door to the bedroom with the crying toddler in his arms. Minho is desperately trying to pull at his ears. Kibum yawns while he hums to his son in the hopes of calming him down.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” he whispers, voice sleepy and eyes half-opened. Minho’s cries die down and he eventually falls into a superficial sleep. Kibum is walking around in their living room, gently cradling Minho to make sure he isn’t going to wake up again. He walks around for another 15 minutes before he enters the bedroom again. He has only crawled under the covers when Minho starts fussing again.

The rest of the night is spent in the living room, Minho waking up every hour crying.



Kibum is exhausted when he hears Jonghyun in the bedroom, the small bump when he crawls from the bed and the scrambling to reach the door knob. He’s carrying Minho in his arms as he walks over to open the door. Jonghyun is rubbing his eyes sleepily when he sees Kibum and then decides to latch onto his leg. Kibum wishes Jinki would soon be home. He doesn’t get to say anything, however, because Minho starts fussing a few seconds later and his fussing has Jonghyun fussing too.

It takes Kibum a squat down on eye level with the oldest of his sons so he can awkwardly hug him while Minho clings to his shoulder and tries to rub his ears on his night shirt. Kibum helps Jonghyun into the kitchen so he can serve him a small bowl of his puppy cereal. Jonghyun just looks at his food and blinks a couple of times before he reaches out towards the refrigerator.

“Owange!” he demands and Kibum sighs a little. That’s when he notices the fluid that Minho seems to have wiped out of his ear during his ear rubbing. A palm to Minho’s forehead tells the tale of a fever and Kibum sighs. Why does it have to happen when he’s alone with them? Jonghyun calls for him once again and demands for the oranges he has been so fond of in the past couple of weeks.

Kibum hurries into the bedroom so he can find the baby sling and strap the sick toddler to his chest before he returns back to