Sniffling. Then a kind of choking sound, and more sniffling.

Umma sat up in her bed, a yawn stretching as she tried to figure out what had woken her up. Then more sniffling. She pressed her feet to the floor and shivered, standing up and wrapping her bathrobe around herself. Was someone crying?

Another choking sound, and then a groan.

“Kris?” She whispered, heading out of her room and following the sound. She stopped in the bathroom door, wishing she had a flashlight, because the power was still out, three days later. “Kris, baby, are you alright?”

“S-sick..” Was the reply. Then the choking sound again. He was throwing up.

“Oh, baby..” She whispered, stepping into the bathroom and kneeling beside him, rubbing his back gently. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling well?”

“Started with a headache..I didn’t know..” He trailed off, and Umma kept rubbing his back.

“Do you feel any better now that you’ve been sick?” She asked softly, and Kris shook his head, his stomach lurching at the movement. “Let me get a flashlight. And the thermometer. Stay here, okay?”

She stood up, leaving him just long enough to run to the kitchen, tripping over someone - Minseok maybe - sleeping on the floor in the dark before clicking on the light in her palm. The boy sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly and looking at her in confusion. Tao woke up a moment later, and then Lay as well.

“Go back to sleep, I’ve got him.” She said softly, starting to head back to the bathroom as Kris sniffled again. In a house so quiet, without even the hum of electricity, it was clear as a bell.

“Kris?” Tao said, jumping up and going with Umma immediately. Umma sighed and nodded, slipping into the bathroom and digging for the thermometer in the medicine cabinet as Tao hovered close to Kris.

“Sit back baby, I need to get your temperature.” Umma whispered softly, guiding the metal end under his tongue. He gagged, but forced it back as he waited, barely aware that he was leaning into Tao. When it beeped, Umma pulled it back and sighed. “38.9..that’s not...that’s not the worst it could be. But if it goes up we’ll have to get you to the hospital.”

“I-is he going to be okay?” Tao asked, his voice shaking and damp. He wrapped his arms around Kris and rubbed his arm, and the elder closed his eyes, trying to fight another wave of nausea.

“He’ll be fine, Tao. It’s just not good for him - or for any of you - to be exposed to such low temperatures for such a long time. It’s especially troubling in his case, though, because he doesn’t have the same immunities as the rest of you.” Umma tried to explain. For Kris, it sounded like gibberish. Korean was literally the most difficult thing in the world for him suddenly, and he couldn’t keep his eyes open. Umma looked seriously worried for a moment before digging out a bottle of pills meant to lower temperatures and ease pain. “Here, baby, I want you to take these.” She said softly, dumping two into her hand. Kris actually shook his head, leaning further into Tao. The idea of swallowing anything made him feel sick, and suddenly he was throwing up again, sitting up just in time.

“Oh..I don’t like this at all.” Umma whispered softly as Kris finished getting sick. “Alright...if you can’t take the pill you need to at least go lay on the couch. We’ll wrap you up in some blankets and see how you’re feeling in the morning. I don’t want you sleeping in your room right now. It’s too cold in there.”

Kris barely understood what she was trying to say, but the thought of actually getting up off the floor in the bathroom seemed like so much work he was exhausted just thinking about it. Slowly, though, he stood up, stumbling to the sink to rinse his mouth with Tao hovering worriedly as Umma flushed the toilet. It was a wonder the pipes hadn’t frozen yet.

A moment later Lay had slipped into the bathroom, and he and Tao were helping Kris out to the couch, keeping him as stable as they could to avoid any more sudden upheavals. By the time he managed to lay down Umma had already managed to find every spare blanket in the house and started wrapping him up in them while Lay ran to get a bucket.

The next morning Kris woke last, the room around him full of quiet voices and stressed expressions, and Kris, again, found that he couldn’t quite grasp what was being said. His eyes opened slowly, unfocused and heavy, and he felt fingers running through his hair as he finally made eye contact with Umma. She was waiting with the thermometer in her hand, and Kris opened his mouth wordlessly, knowing she was going to want to check anyway.

He closed his eyes again as she set it in his mouth, and the beep sounded far away as she pulled the thermometer back out. He managed to open his eyes and see the number, though, and 39.7 seemed awfully low to him. Wasn’t he freezing to death if it was that low? It took him much longer than it should have to remember that the difference between celsius and fahrenheit was something he should probably relearn.

“My son has a fever.” He heard Umma saying, and he tried to look for Lay, but Lay seemed alright when his eyes landed on the other. Who was Umma talking about, if not Lay? “We need an ambulance, my car is buried and we can’t get out. The power only just came back on.”

Lay was moving closer, tentative fingers running through his hair as Minseok hovered just behind him. Lay was saying something, but Kris couldn’t hear it. Umma sounded funny, too, and despite knowing better Kris was pretty sure she was speaking English. That was the only thing that made sense, because Korean was still so hard sometimes, but he could understand her so clearly.

“He was vomiting last night. He’s not very focused right now, I’m not sure he really even knows what’s going on.” Umma said, and Kris misjudged his arm length, having meant to only stretch it a little, but he bumped her arm, and she smiled sweetly at him in a way that had him closing his eyes again, not sure if he was embarrassed or touched by the kindness in her eyes. “He’s multilingual, but Korean is his newest language. An English or Mandarin speaking doctor would be best for him.”

“Lay doesn’t speak English..” Kris mumbled, and there was a moment of quiet confusion before smiling faces made the room too bright around him, and he had to close his eyes.

Lay started singing an old Mandarin lullaby, and Kris wasn’t sure why he would do that, but it sounded kind of nice, and when Tao, Chen, Minseok, and Luhan joined in, it sounded even nicer, so he didn’t complain. He knew it very well, but he was too tired to sing along. He could hear the song even as he was being loaded into the ambulance, still not comprehending what was going on and feeling like his head was filled with cotton.

“Heart palpitations...might be something to see a specialist for, might be nothing.” Kris heard someone mumbling, and he finally realized he was in the ambulance. He looked around, a split second of panic taking over before Umma came into his line of sight and pushed him to lay back down.

“Calm down, I’m right here.” She said, and Kris looked more confused than ever, but he didn’t say anything, and she turned the EMT. “I’ve looked at his medical records. He gets them occasionally, in extreme temperatures. There’s nothing else going on, he’s already been checked.”

“Umma...” Kris mumbled. She looked back at him with a soft, yet concerned expression. “Am I dying?”

Umma laughed, shaking her head and running her fingers through Kris’ hair gently before turning back to the EMT. “Boys are always big babies when they’re sick, did you know that?” She asked, then smiled at Kris. “You’re going to be just fine.” She assured him, and Kris tried to narrow his eyes, but ended up closing them instead and didn’t wake up again until he was in his own hospital room with all kinds of machines and tubes everywhere. He felt shaky and exhausted, but he could think more clearly, and that was a huge step up.