Word count: 2218w

Prompt: I love your kaisoo parents!au <3 if you could, please write about everyone falling sick one after the other, until one parent is left running around taking care of everyone. And then when he falls sick, everyone gets to spoil him. Thank you!! :)) + parents au where the girls take turns to care for either a sick jongin or kyungsoo because the other one is busy with work

There are times when Kyungsoo thinks he’s been blessed more than a regular human being should be: he has a steady job, a wonderful husband, three beautiful daughters, living together with him in a beautiful house.

‘Soo!’
‘Papa!’
‘No, Soojungie, me - PAPAAAA!’

And then there are times like this, where he doesn’t really know what he’d done to deserve such misfortune. It’s midwinter, snow settling in sheets of white over his lawn and all across his roof, frost getting all over his windows, the chill inching its way into his house even when he’s got all the doors shut and the windows closed and the heating turned up high. He’s got a couple of jugs of warm water waiting to be poured, a stack of dirty dishes in the sink, waiting to be washed -

‘PAPA WHERE ARE YOU!’

And, evidently, three screaming children and an equally needy - if only slightly less noisy - husband, all vying for his attention.

Kyungsoo sighs, stirs the third batch of soup he’s made that day before spooning it out, three smaller bowls for his angels, and one for his loving husband to have for dinner.

‘Soo, honey…’

That is, of course, if he doesn’t wind up murdering said husband before the soup ever even reaches him.

‘I’m coming,’ calls Kyungsoo through gritted teeth. He piles the bowls on a bigger tray he remembers getting for the new house before trudging up the stairs, careful not to spill anything. The door to Sunyoung’s room is thankfully ajar, and a bump from his hip is enough to grant him access. His eldest looks at him with droopy eyes as he sets the bowl down on her bedside table.

‘Thank you, Papa,’ says Sunyoung quietly, and Kyungsoo could honestly cry at how quiet his daughter is. Compared to her other siblings, Sunyoung was practically a video playing on mute.

‘You’re welcome, honey,’ murmurs Kyungsoo. He helps his daughter sit up, props her comfortably against her pillows and kisses the top of her head, a feel better soon, okay? leaving his lips before he shuffles back out again and heads to Jinri and Soojung’s room.

‘Papa,’ croaks Jinri, and Kyungsoo just barely stops himself from rolling his eyes, the memory of her hollering only minutes ago still fresh in his mind. Jinri was definitely more of a drama queen than her older sister, but seeing how flushed his daughter’s face was and how genuinely uncomfortable she looked still tugged on his heartstrings. Drama queen or not, she was still his baby, after all.

‘Feeling okay, honey?’ he asks, padding closer and sitting on his daughter’s bed. He presses his hand to her forehead - the fever is still there, but it isn’t as strong as it was yesterday - and grimaces, Jinri’s eyes fluttering closed as he does.

‘This isn’t fun,’ whines Soojung, one bed away. She has her covers pulled right up to her chin, and Kyungsoo can only give her a half-smile of what he hopes is comfort.

‘I know, honey,’ he says, as he arranges Jinri before going to attend to his youngest, ‘But it’ll be over soon. In a couple of days you’ll be as good as new, and you and your sisters can run around and play together again. That sound good?’

Soojung nods, a little smile dawning on her lips. ‘And Daddy, too?’ she asks, her tone hopeful.

Kyungsoo huffs, pretends to let jealousy overcome him. ‘Hey, I’m the one taking care of you and getting all your snot on my shirts and you’re asking me about Daddy? I’m starting to think you’re playing favourites with me here,’ he says, brows drawing closer and a slight pout on his lips.

His daughter lets out a high laugh that quickly turns into a coughing fit, but the smile from before is still on her lips throughout. ‘I’m only kidding, honey. Eat up and get some rest, okay?’ he says. He kisses both his daughters before he leaves, and makes his way to his own bedroom.

He can’t really see anything when he first pushes the door to his bedroom open. It’s swimming in darkness - the curtains are drawn and all the lights are switched off, and he sighs. His fingers fumble before the room lights up, and he’s greeted by the sight of his husband with the covers drawn up to his ears, so only a bit of his forehead and all his hair is showing.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

‘Does being sick make you, like, a vampire or something?’ asks Kyungsoo, closing the door behind him before making his way to his husband. ‘There aren’t any germs in the light, you know. The darkness can’t protect you from this one.’

He tugs the covers down until his husband’s face comes into view, expression disoriented and eyes swollen. Kyungsoo wrinkles his nose. ‘Though if I’m honest, I wouldn’t mind youactually being a vampire. I wouldn’t mind looking at some Edward Cullen goodness right about now.’

Kyungsoo doesn’t know what he expects as a response, but it’s not his husband tugging him hard enough that he falls on top of him, and it definitely isn’t his husband rolling them over and pinning him down.

‘How’s that for being a vampire?’ asks Jongin. Normally Kyungsoo would be putty in his hands at the gesture, normally he’d be all over Jongin - but then again, normally, his husband’s eyes wouldn’t be as swollen as they are now, and his skin wouldn’t be so uncomfortably hot and sticky on Kyungsoo’s own, either.

He grimaces.

‘Sorry, babe, but I doubt vampires have snot dribbling out of their noses when they’re trying to seduce their husbands,’ says Kyungsoo, reaching for a tissue from their bedside table before swiping Jongin across the upper lip with one. His husband seems to concede at this, and falls to the side, flat on his back.

‘My phone keeps blowing up,’ mutters Jongin. Kyungsoo props himself up on one elbow, begins tracing patterns on his husband’s chest as his brow furrows.

‘You’re on sick leave. They’re meant to leave you alone,’ he says, disapproving.

‘Well, yeah, but apparently there’s this rumour going around about a merger between two rival companies and the stock market is about to go crazy, and - ’

Silence falls on Jongin’s lips in the form of his husband’s finger pressing against it. Jongin raises his eyebrows. ‘Sick leave,’ murmurs Kyungsoo, pulling his hand away. ‘Leave it alone.’

Jongin sighs. He drums his fingers on his stomach for a couple of minutes, before he turns to look at Kyungsoo.

‘You know,’ he begins, and Kyungsoo already knows this tone - sick Jongin is usually a highlyaffectionate Jongin, and the elder is pretty sure he isn’t going to like where this is going. ‘Usually to shut me up, you’d kiss me.’

Silence hangs between them, and Jongin nuzzles into Kyungsoo’s chest when it drags on too long. ‘So?’ asks Kyungsoo, fingers combing through his husband’s hair.

‘I could use one of those right about now,’ says Jongin, his voice coming out muffled against his husband’s chest.

Kyungsoo pulls away, nose wrinkling as he looks at his husband. ‘I don’t think that’s a very sanitary option right now,’ he says, but the look on Jongin’s face already has him wanting to kiss the younger.

‘Come on, Soo… Just one kiss? Please? I’ll love you forever,’ Jongin whines, and Kyungsoo sighs.

‘You already promised to love me forever, you doofus,’ says Kyungsoo, rolling his eyes as Jongin leans in.

Just one kiss wouldn’t hurt.

Would it?




‘Soojung! Jinri! I told you to put your sheets in the washing machine last night!’
‘Sorry, Daddy!’
‘Do it now, please!’
‘Okay, Daddy!’

‘Sunyoung, I made Papa’s soup already - if he gets hungry put some in a bowl for him, and then get him to help you heat it up, okay?’ asks Jongin, struggling to pull on his work jacket. His husband is sick and his children have just gotten better and he can’t believe he has to go in to work on a Saturday morning, but he knows he doesn’t really have a choice. The first credible source of information showed signs of confirming the merger he was worrying about, and now, he imagines, his entire department is being thrown into chaos. He has to go.

‘Okay, Daddy,’ nods Sunyoung, trailing after her father as they head into the laundry room. Jinri and Soojung have just put their washing in the machine, and Jongin fumbles, with his jacket half-on and half-off, to get the detergent in the right compartment and start the cycle.

He kneels down to check that the cycle’s started, and catches a glimpse of the time as he does. He’s going to be late. He’s going to be so late.

‘Soojung, Jinri - when the machine stops I want you to put everything in the dryer, and then turn the spinny thing up there to the number 100, okay?’ he instructs. His daughters nod, and Sunyoung hurriedly helps him put his jacket on the right way.

‘Take good care of Papa for me, okay girls?’ he asks, and they all nod, rushing forward to give him a collective hug goodbye. ‘If anything happens, call me right away. Okay? Is that understood?’ he asks, and another round of nods follows, and then he’s kissing them all goodbye, and leaving.

The girls all look at the closed door, before exchanging looks with one another.

‘Did Daddy say 100 or 200 just now, Jinri?’ asks Soojung, but the elder only shrugs.

‘Don’t look at me,’ says Sunyoung, throwing her hands up. ‘I’m soup girl, today.’

‘We’ll just call him later and ask,’ says Jinri.

‘Should we check on Papa?’ suggests Sunyoung, receiving nods from her sisters. They scramble up the stairs and into their parents’ room, barge in on their sleeping father without ceremony.

He stirs.

‘Girls?’ he murmurs, voice scratchy with sleep, eyes still somewhat squinty in the light. ‘What’s going on?’

Jinri and Soojung immediately climb on the bed with their father, Sunyoung sitting herself down obediently on the floor by the side of the bed. ‘Daddy’s gone to work,’ announces Jinri, flopping gently across her father’s belly. ‘So we’re in charge today,’ she says, a note of pride in her voice.

‘Papa, your phone keeps going off,’ says Soojung, wrinkling her nose at the offending device as it buzzes in her hand. Her features light up when she recognises the name of the sender. ‘It’s Daddy!’ she says.

‘What does it say?’ asks Sunyoung, sitting up straight.

‘It says, “Soo, there’s soup in the kitchen and sheets in the washing machine. Girls will take care of it. Get well soon. Love you.”’ she says, scrolling through the thread on Kyungsoo’s phone. Her father nods, eyes still shut tight. Another buzzing sound is heard, and Kyungsoo groans.

‘What is it now?’ he asks, pulling one of Jongin’s pillows over to cover his face.

‘It’s from Daddy again,’ mutters Soojung, fingers moving to open the text. ‘There it is. He said “And once you get better, we can - ”’

The speed with which Kyungsoo reached out to snatch the phone from his daughter’s fingers left him dizzy. The one time he lets Soojung read his messages to him, Jongin pulls something like that. He sighs. ‘That’s enough for now, sweetheart,’ he says, laying back and shoving the device under his pillow. ‘What are you girls going to do today?’

‘Take care of you, Papa!’ exclaims Jinri. ‘We’re all better now, so it’s our turn to take care ofyou, Papa,’ she says, maneuvering herself so her arms are wrapped around her father’s waist. Soojung lays herself gently on top of her sister, and soon Kyungsoo finds himself playing the bottom slice of a very loving sandwich.

‘Thank you, girls,’ he says, smiling when Sunyoung stands to give him a kiss on his cheek. It’s starting to hit him, slowly, that his girls aren’t the babies he used to change or kiss or take care of anymore, but he finds he doesn’t really mind. They’re growing up, and he couldn’t be prouder of the people they’re becoming.

‘Hey Papa?’ calls Jinri, her voice sort of muffled as she lays under the weight of her sister, ‘How did you get sick?’

‘Daddy gave it to me,’ he murmurs, already half asleep.

‘How?’
‘He kissed me,’

Jinri gets up quickly, unintentionally toppling Soojung off of her. ‘Ew, Papa! That’s gross!’ she squeals, expression twisted in disgust.

Sleep is already claiming Kyungsoo, and hearing about his husband brings the image of Jongin’s face to his mind. He’s grown, too. They both have. Their life together has. A drowsy smile graces his lips, and he sighs.

‘Love is never gross.’

(He falls asleep too quickly to hear the gagging noises his daughters make.)