When Jongdae was eight and going through his first "I hate you" phase his father had taken him out to give him some advice.

"Son," he said over an absurdly large bowl of patbingsu, "There will come a day in your life when all you want is your mother, but she won't be there because you are an adult and have moved out of our house. And you are going to wish that you had been nicer to your her when you had the chance."

Jongdae had never really understood what his father meant, but he was nicer to his mother from that moment on because he assumed the treat was a sort of bribe to behave better, and he had nothing against being bribed.

Today, though, his father's words came back to haunt him and it was like a thousand watt light bulb went off in his head, or maybe that was just the migraine that accompanied his fever.

When he was sick in his younger years his mother would always make him special food and sit next to him and tend to his fevered brow with her soft cool hands and gentle voice. But it had been several years since he last lived at home and he lived in a dorm full of men.

He really needed someone, badly. He didn't know how to be sick alone. Who would take care of him the best? Manager hyung was a definite no. He was far too manly and his hands were rough(he didn't really want to know how they got so rough considering his main job was shuffle them from schedule to schedule).

Minseok? He was the quietly domestic sort and the closest thing to an umma they had within their group of six. Yet, that was more due to a slight case of OCD than any sort of maternal instinct. Once you got past the cuteness, Minseok was actually the manliest in the group.

Kris? Nope. His hands were freaking huge and they were warm and not at all cool. Which actually was probably the best description of Kris as a person as he would ever be able to come up with. Kris would probably not have a problem with taking care of Jongdae, and he would do a good job, like a nurse would. Efficient, brisk, and completely impersonal. 

Yixing? Um, no. For reasons Jongdae does not wish to reveal.

Tao? He could picture it already, the tears streaming down Tao's face dripping onto his arm as he cried because his hyung did not feel well. He was the opposite of Kris. It would just be all raw emotion and no actual help.

Luhan? Oh! Luhan. Yes. Sweet, gentle, kind Luhan who has pretty, soft hands and a quiet gentle voice. He is also ridiculously easy to manipulate. Not that Luhan is in any way girly. He'd actually rank Luhan as third most manly in the group(after Minseok and himself, of course). He wields sarcasm like a samurai wields his favorite sword and is effortlessly athletic, but he is also the nicest person Jongdae has ever met. Every member of exo had some sort of crush on Luhan. Unfortunately for all but one of them, Luhan was taken. And therein lies the problem. Getting Luhan to take care of him would be easy. Getting Luhan away from Kris long enough to soothe his fevered brow would be the challenge.

Luck was with Jongdae this day. He painstakingly removes himself from his bed of affliction and leans against his doorframe, coughing slightly to get everyone's attention. Except maybe he didn't mean to cough quite that hard or end up on the floor with tears streaming out of his eyes because he was coughing so hard that it made his head move and oh damn that hurts and why is everything suddenly black and are those fireworks?

Ahhhhh. Now that's what he's talking about. Cool fingers against his forehead brushing his hair to the side and humming sweetly.

"Momma," he sighs happily.

The snort in the background brings him back to his senses.

"Hush, Kris. Jongdae just fainted. Of course he is a bit disoriented."

Well, crap. He just called Luhan Momma. Kris will never ever let him live this down.

"Luhan," he croaks out as pitifully as he can, which isn't as hard as usual. "I don't feel so good."

"I know. You seem to have contracted the flu that's been going around K. You'll feel better in a day or two. For now, you need to sit up and try to drink something."

Delicate hands lift him from under the arms and a glass is held to his lips.

"We have managers for this sort of thing," Jongdae hears Kris complaining. "Whatever this illness is, it is clearly contagious, you are going to get sick."

"I can't let Chen Chen suffer alone. That would be mean."

Jongdae hears Kris murmur something like "stupid bleeding heart, fine get sick and see if I care" as he leaves the room.

Kris 0 Jongdae 1

By the end of the night the score is tied again. Kris manages to get Luhan to go out for dinner with him. Luhan leaves him in the care of Tao, who is unexpectedly stoic. It's a strange enough behavior  that Jongdae asks if he is okay. Tao just nods his head and yawns.

When Luhan returns he sighs happily and tries to smile, but it hurts so he just let's out a breathy "Luhan, you're back. I missed you."

At this point he will say anything to get Luhan's hands on him. They're like magic or something.

"What's like magic?" Luhan asks.

Oops. He didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Magic. Magic is magical." And why is Luhan's laugh so tinkly, like bells. Or maybe it's just time for more medicine because he is pretty sure Luhan, as sparkly as he can be when the coordi noonas have their way with him, is not usually surrounded by flowers and and miniature fireworks that he can actually hear making small booming noises.

"You're really pretty, I like the way your wings look in the sunshine. They're all rainbowy and stuff."

"I think it's time for your next dose of medicine." Luhan just laughs. He knows that Jongdae is just a bit delirious from his fever, but all the same, he was glad Kris wasn't there to hear him call Luhan pretty. That never ends well.

Jongdae must have nodded off because when he next opens his eyes Yixing is sitting at the end of his bed reading a book. He's always admired Yixing's ability to be still and calm.  If it weren't for the occasional brush of eyelashes or flash of dimple when he reads something amusing, he would think Yixing was a photograph. But as happy as he was to have Yixing in his bed, where was his Luhan?

"Where's Luhan. I need him."

Yixing lay his book down on the bed and moved up to sit next to Jongdae.

"Kris took him a while ago to get some rest. I took the night shift."

"What time is it? How long was I asleep?"

"It's a little past 1 am. You've been asleep about 8 hours. You look a lot better than you did this morning. Are you feeling better?"

Jongdae took stock of his current condition. He could move his head without screaming, so that was a definite improvement.

"Well, you don't have sparkly wings or fireworks going off around you, so I'd say I am much better."

Again with the dimple as he giggled and pressed the back of his hand against Jongdae's forehead. He looked momentarily puzzled then put his hand down the back of Jongdae's shirt and pressed against his back.

"Um, dude. Why is your hand down my shirt?" It was a good thing his skin was already flushed.

"Shh. I am feeling to see if you still have a temperature."

"Why do I have to be quiet for you to feel me?"

"Shhh!"

"Fine." Not talking meant he could concentrate on the feel of Yixing's hand against his back. His hands were cool, but not as cold as Luhan's, and when he removed his hand from Jongdae's shirt and pushed his fringe away from his forehead he could feel the callouses on his fingertips from playing the guitar, but even though his hands weren't soft like Luhan's they were just as soothing. And he was humming faintly, too.

"I think your fever is gone. Do you want me to stay or go?"

"Would you mind staying?"

"I don't mind. I don't have any schedules tomorrow, so I can sleep in or take a nap later."

"You can sleep with me."

He can always blame it on the fever.

"Sure, as long as I don't make you too hot."

Jongdae is actually at a loss for words.

Yixing realizes belatedly what he has said and blushes.

"I mean, my normal body temperature is high, so..."

"If I weren't sick I would say something snarky, but I'm too tired."

"Then I guess I'll have to take advantage of nice Jongdae while I have him."

When Yixing slides under the covers and snuggles up to him Jongdae silently concedes to Kris. Luhan is all kinds of amazing, but Yixing is infinitely better.