Word count: 1076 words 

Zitao wakes up feeling like crap; he is giddy, nauseous and cold. Wrapping himself up like a sushi, he turns over to glance at the clock which flashes the time in glaring red, hurting his head more. Zitao groans and shivers from the sudden cold, snatching more of the blanket from Kris and curling into his husband’s inviting warmth.

Shifting once every few seconds to find a position that he feels comfortable in, he accidentally jabs Kris in the chest, effectively waking him up in the process.

Kris opens a bleary eye to see Zitao’s face contort in discomfort.

“Baby, what’s wrong,” he croaks in his just-awake voice.

“I’m cold and uncomfortable,” Zitao whines. “I feel like puking.”

Kris brings his forehead to Zitao’s and almost hisses at the temperature.

“You’re hot, Zitao,” Kris frowns. “Very hot.”

“Thanks, Kris, I kind of know that already,” Zitao weakly smiles.

“That’s not what I meant,” Kris deadpans. “You’re burning up, Tao. You have a fever.”

“The correct word for that is ‘warm’, not ‘hot’. Don’t get people’s hopes up.”

“I think you’re fine, seeing that you still have the mind to joke around,” Kris affectionately brushes his nose against the younger’s.

“But I don’t feel fine,” Zitao whines, burying his face into Kris’s chest. “I can’t fall back to sleep.”

Kris takes a peek at the clock, “Well I guess there’s no need to fall back asleep now, it’s almost time to wake up anyway. Do you need me stay with you? I can call my boss for a day off.”

“Yes, please. Yixing, Joonmyun, Luhan and Minseok need to go to school today and I don’t think I can handle them by myself.”

“I’ll go wake them up, you stay here and rest, alright?” Kris kisses Zitao’s forehead and heads to the wake the four little kids up.

While Kris assists the four in getting ready for school, Zitao decides to get up and get ready before making breakfast for all of them. He stands up and walks to the bathroom a little wobbly but still manages to make it there. However, he could not stand for long as his legs felt like jelly so he ended up brushing his teeth while sitting on the toilet bowl.

Once he deemed himself ready, he walks out to the kitchen. Feeling horrible especially after sneezing and falling into a coughing fit after, he decides to make a simple breakfast instead of something fancy. After taking another step, he finds his resolve for making breakfast disappear and he settles for making everyone cereal and milk.

“Good morning, mommy,” Joonmyun greets as he is the first to enter the dining area. “What are we eating today?”

“Good morning, Joonmyun. Does cereal and milk sound good? Mommy isn’t up to something fancy today.”

“Is mommy sick?” Joonmyun worriedly climbs onto Zitao’s lap.

“Yes, but I’ll be fine. Don’t worry Joonie,” Zitao smiles and ruffles the child’s hair.

Kris soon enters the dining area with the other three kids and Zitao stands to grab prepare their bowls of cereal. What he doesn’t expect though, is the wave of vertigo that hits him and he sways in his position before falling back into his chair.

With that – and a bunch of frightened kids – Kris condemns Zitao to bed rest; much to the latter’s displeasure. Kris leaves him with breakfast in bed (which really was just cereal and milk) and a cup of warm honey tea before leaving to send the four kids to school.

The time was only eight in the morning and Zitao decides to sleep a little longer after taking a sip of his tea. Just as his eyelids droop close, the door creaks open and Kyungsoo enters, holding on to Sehun’s hand.

Zitao immediately opens his eye and attempts to sit up but groans and collapses back on to his pillow.

“Mommy?”

Sehun releases his grip on Kyungsoo’s hand and runs up to his mother.

“Momma?”

“Sehunnie, are you hungry?” Zitao reaches a hand out to ruffle his hair.

Sehun nods.

“Mommy, you okay?” Kyungsoo asks.

“I’m fine, just a little fever,” Zitao smiles. “I’ll get up and make breakfast, alright? Does cereal sound good?”

“Wait, mommy,” Kyungsoo says and runs out of the room.

He soon returns with a small towel and runs into the bathroom. The sound of running water could be heard for a while before it shuts off and the boy emerges with a wet towel. He folds the towel into a slightly messy rectangle before climbing on to the bed and placing it on Zitao’s forehead.

“Mommy does this when anyone have fever,” he explains.

“Thank you, Kyungsoo,” Zitao grins and pats the boy on his head.

It wasn’t for long when Kris returns home with plastic bags full of takeout for the rest of the children and Zitao. He enters the room to see Kyungsoo and Sehun snuggling with Zitao on the bed, close to sleep.

Kris smiles at the sight but gently wakes Kyungsoo and Sehun up for breakfast.

Ushering the both of them out to the dining area, he proceeds to wake the rest of the sleeping children. Kyungsoo is the first to finish his breakfast and soon runs off into Kris’s and Zitao’s shared bedroom. Kris goes after him to tell him not to disturb Zitao but what he sees warms his heart that he nearly weeps.

Kyungsoo tip-toes up to take the folded towel off Zitao’s forehead and runs into the bathroom before returning and replacing the towel back.

“Kyungsoo, baby,” Kris calls when Kyungsoo settles in position beside Zitao on the bed as if to keep watch on him. “Let me take care of mommy, you’ll get sick when you go close.”

Kyungsoo stubbornly shakes his head and stays put.

“Daddy will take care of mommy, alright? You’re a good boy, Kyungsoo, but daddy doesn’t want you to get sick,” Kris smiles and picks Kyungsoo off the bed.

The latter reluctantly leaves the room after a long glance at his sleeping mother.

Throughout the entire day, Kris had to constantly chase out the stubborn kids who keeps entering the room, wanting to see their mother. Kris did not want any of them catching the bug from Zitao because taking care of sick children is ten times worse than a fully grown adult.

What Kris did not expect though, was that he was the one catching the cold the next morning.

This was written from the prompt by HaeKyung where either one of them gets sick. Yepyep and you can still ask for scenarios you would like to read~ Wow, this is the longest chapter out of the whole thing? Oh my god I think everyone can see my overwhelming biasness towards Tao. Anyway, Happy 2014 to all readers <3

And, I am still accepting requests for one shots~ You can submit your requests here! I will still be accepting 7 more requests before I close it. 

P.S. did anyone realize in EXO's Showtime episode 6, we had Chanyeol, D.O., Chen, Baekhyun, Lay and Suho outside and Luhan, Xiumin, Sehun and Kai in the room but where did Taoris go? Excuse me while my mind wanders...

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