Word count: 822 words

“Mommy, look! It’s a giant worm!” Kyungsoo screams as he runs into the house, hands holding the said creature.

“Kyungsoo baby, worms are dirty, don’t touch them!” Zitao calls back from the room as he rushes out pops his head out in horror.

“But mommy, it’s really long and thin,” he says as he looks at the creature. “It has really big eyes too and it’s green.”

“Kyu- Holy , don’t touch that! It’s not a worm!” Zitao screams in horror when he spots what is in Kyungsoo’s hand.

“Yifan!” Zitao calls desperately as he tries to coax Kyungsoo into releasing the thing.

“Kyungsoo, baby, you have to let go of it, alright?” Zitao coos while Kyungsoo simply looks at him and tilts his head questioningly.

“Yes?” Kris appears from behind and cranes his neck to look at the commotion.

“Yifan, please take that thing out of Kyungsoo’s hand,” the terrified man pleads.

“Why, mommy? It’s cute,” Kyungsoo says and brings the abomination (or so as Zitao dubs it as) closer to his mother.

Zitao squeals and runs behind Kris and he finally sees what Kyungsoo is holding. He lets out a manly shriek and bends down to Kyungsoo’s height, beckoning him over.

“Kyungsoo, baby,” he starts nervously. “That’s a snake, it might bite you and if it’s poisonous, you might be in a lot of pain. Will you give that to daddy?”

Kyungsoo’s bottom lip trembles. “B-but, daddy, it didn’t bite me. It’s nice and his name is Terry.”

Kris sighs and tries to grab the snake from the little boy but he is put up to resistance. No matter how much he coaxes the boy, the boy refuses to let go of the snake and even brings it protectively against his chest. When Kris shuffles closer to the pouting boy, he pushes past him and runs into his room.

Zitao smacks Kris. “You can’t let him bring the snake into the house! What if it’s poisonous?”

“He won’t give it to me!” Kris groans exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair.

While they were talking, they did not see Kyungsoo poking his head out of the room and gesturing for the rest of his brothers in. Little feet toddle over and into the room as Kyungsoo shows them his discovery and tells them their parent’s plans of getting rid of Terry.

When Kris and Zitao finally walks into the room, they found their kids holding hands in a circle, forming a short but sturdy human wall surrounding Kyungsoo with Terry in his hands. The snake hisses that Zitao swears it’s a mock and grits his teeth.

“Kids, we can’t keep the snake,” Kris sighs.

“Why, daddy? It’s cute and Kyungie even named it,” Jongdae says, pulling Joonmyun and Yixing closer to block Kyungsoo better.

“Because it might be poisonous,” Kris explains. “What if it bites you in the middle of the night? It’ll hurt a lot.”

“But it didn’t bite us,” Luhan says innocently.

“Yet, honey. What if it does eventually?” Kris says.

“Kyungsoo,” Zitao finally steps in, “Come here.”

Kyungsoo knew that with that tone, what Zitao says is final and so he has no choice but to break pass the human wall.

“Kyungsoo, you know everyone has parents, right?” Zitao asks and Kyungsoo nods. “You love mommy and daddy, do you?” Another nod. “What would you do if one day someone takes you away and refuse to return you to mommy and daddy? Will you feel sad? Will you miss us?”

Kyungsoo nods again, eyes wide at the prospect of being separated from his parents.

“That’s what you’re doing, baby,” Zitao says. “You’re keeping that thing-“

“Terry,” Kyungsoo cuts in, “His name is Terry.”

“Okay, Terry. You’re keeping Terry away from his mommy and daddy. You know how would he feel, would you? It’s like keeping you away from us; it doesn’t feel good, does it?”

Kyungsoo nods yet again, tears welling up in his eyes. “I-I didn’t know, m-mommy. I d-didn’t mean t-to make Terry sad,” he sobs, fat tears making its way down his chubby cheeks.

Zitao smiles and brings Kyungsoo into a hug. “It’s alright, baby. We’ll all go and let Terry go, okay? Then he can go find his mommy and daddy so that he can be happy.”

Everyone bade goodbye to the snake as Kyungsoo lets it go on the grass patch that Zitao brought them to.

“Goodbye, Terry, go find your mommy and daddy,” Kyungsoo sniffles as he sees the snake slithering away.

The kids were all sad to see their prospective pet go but Kris offers pizza and they were all fine again, cheering as they ran back home with Zitao and Kris following behind.

Zitao nearly collapses in relief, he was glad he could finally convince Kyungsoo to let the snake go or he would cry at having a snake as a pet. Snakes were gross and slimy after all.

Just a short update although I said I wasn't going to update till next year because damn you guys are so awesome. Someone submitted this fic to a Taoris fics blog on tumblr and I had a spike in subscribers ;u; Thank you, whoever you are! So here's a chapter for you guys <3

This is really the last chapter of the year, lol. I'm going to be really busy travelling soon ;u; but ilu guys and I'll be back before you know it :-)

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