Word count: 559w

Prompt: parents!au prompt: kyungsoo's out of the country for a few days and jongin gets a call from the school that their daughter is sick. hilarity ensues as he tries to figure out how a thermometer works and how one is supposed to cook chicken soup.

'Daddy!' Sunyoung calls, arms spreading as her father makes his way towards her. 'I'm sorry,' she mumbles, burying her face in the crook of his neck as he lifts her. 'I didn't mean to get sick.'

'It's alright, princess, I'm not angry.' Jongin murmurs, motioning for his other daughters to follow him. Jinri and Soojung hold hands, Jinri carrying Sunyoung's school bag and Soojung carrying her water bottle. 'We're going to go home and get you better, alright?' he says, and he hopes it doesn't show in his voice that he's not certain how he's going to achieve that.

They come home to an empty house, and Jongin's briefly hit by a wave of emotion when he realises, with all his daughters filing into the house, he misses Kyungsoo. His husband is at a convention, some sort of artsy thing Jongin never understood, and he's due back in three days. The shutting of Sunyoung's bedroom door brings him out of his thoughts and back to the present. He feels the bottoms of his sleeves being tugged.

'Daddy, we should take Sunyoung's temperature. And feed her soup! It'll make her feel better in no time,' Soojung says. Jinri nods.

'Is that what Papa does when you're sick?'
'All the time!'
'And then you feel better?'
'The next day!'

'I guess there's no harm in trying,' Jongin shrugs, making his way to the kitchen. He pulls open the pantry door and is greeted with shelves of cans, and for a minute he just stands there, partly shocked and partly intimidated. Jinri giggles quietly before plucking one off the bottommost shelf, shoving it at Jongin. 'Cream of chicken? Does Sunyoung like this?'

'Papa always makes this for her when she's sick,' Jinri says. Soojung nods, and heads to the cabinet under the sink.

'You need to get the wheel monster out, Daddy!' she exclaims, one small finger pointing toward the cabinet. Jongin doesn't have an inkling of an idea about what his daughter could possibly mean. Soojung sighs. 'The wheel monster opens the can, and then you can cook it!'

Jongin nods at his seven year old daughter. Giving him cooking instructions. Well.

Fifteen minutes (and a lot of struggling) later, Jinri holds Sunyoung's room door open as Jongin balances hot soup and a glass of warm water on a tray. Soojung bounds in right behind him, strip thermometer in hand. 'Hey, princess. We're going to take your temperature now, alright?'

Sunyoung sits up and smiles expectantly, her sisters sitting at the foot of her bed. 'I wanted to hug you to make you feel better, but Daddy says I'm not supposed to get too close to you,' Soojung pouts. Jongin puts the tray down on Sunyoung's side table and plucks the thermometer from Soojung's hand.

'Open up,' he says, pushing the thermometer toward Sunyoung's mouth. She doesn't. 'Honey, I can't take your temperature if you don't open up,' he says evenly. Sunyoung stifles a giggle. 'Look, Sunyoung, this isn't funny. I want you to get better soon and you're not-'

Jongin's words are cut off when Jinri plucks the thermometer from his hand and lays it gently against Sunyoung's forehead. His eldest daughter smiles, Jinri patting her softly atop her head. The latter turns to face their father, arms crossing over her chest and mouth set in a way that isn't unlike an angry Kyungsoo's.

'Daddy please never become a nurse.'