TAO'S POV

    I was too hot. I shifted in bed, squirming under the heavy weight across my torso. I opened my eyes to find Kris' arm and one of his wings thrown across my chest, his leg draped across my hips, and felt the sweat pooling in the small of my back. 
    "Kris?" I said, glancing at the clock next to me. It was 5:30 am, and cold dawn light was struggling to reach in through the window. He moaned, his arm and leg tightening to pull me even closer to him. 
    "Kris, I can't breathe. Let me up." I said, poking his cheek. I slowly wormed out from
under his limbs, throwing the covers away from my body and tumbling out of bed. 
    Kris whined in his sleep and reached out for me, pouting. I rested a palm on his forehead, pulling my hand back when I felt how hot he was. His face was pale and there were two spots of red on his cheekbones, his hair spiked with sweat. 
    "Are you sick?" I asked, reaching out to shake his shoulder. Kris batted my hand away with the tip of one wing, a firm flick that left an unexpected sting from the force. 
    I drew my hand back with a wince, looking at the shallow cut that stretched along the top of my hand. The claw on the end of his wing had accidentally caught my skin, and blood ran down in a thin stream to pause and collect at my fingertips. 
    I sighed and walked out of the bedroom to the medical/linen closet, opening the doors and looking at the shelf of neatly labeled brown baskets. I located the basket labeled Cuts, Scrapes, and Bruises, and then the one labeled Cold and Flu.
    I paused to duck into Ryu's loft, looking around at the empty bed and shrugging. I hadn't really expected him to come home last night; I hoped he had found Snake safely. I still couldn't believe the story he had told me last night, all the struggles he and Zane—Snake—had to experience. 
    I came back down the stairs and into our room, finding Kris sprawled all over the bed. He was lying on his stomach, his arms spreadeagled and his wings hanging over the edges of the bed. I could see the ripped slots in the back of his shirt where his wings pushed out during the night, his legs fidgeting around. 
    "Open your mouth." I said, pulling a thermometer out of its casing and tapping his shoulder gently. 
    Kris ever so slowly cracked open one eye, blinked at me confusedly, and then closed his eye. 
    "Wu Yifan, I have to check your temperature. If you don't open your mouth in exactly three seconds, I do have a rectal thermometer and I am not afraid to use it." I snapped. 
    Kris opened his mouth and I carefully slipped the thermometer under his tongue, leaving it to walk into the bathroom and wash the blood off my hand. I stuck a large band-aid to the back of my hand, pressing the edges down carefully while I walked back. 
    I collected the thermometer from Kris' mouth, wincing when I saw the number. Kris curled up in a ball, his wings wrapping completely around himself. 
    "Kris, this says you have a fever of 44°. You should be dead right now with a fever like this. You need to talk to me; is this normal?" I demanded, shaking his shoulder. 
    "Idunnow." Kris mumbled, slowly uncurling. His eyes were glazed, fixing on me blankly as he ran a shaky hand through his hair. 
    "Kris, this kind of fever is beyond dangerous. Do I need to get you to the hospital?" I asked, trying to remain calm and not panicked.  
    Kris looked up at me, swallowing slowly and wincing. He was panting, his bottom lip slowly and struggling to keep his eyes open. 
    "I don't know." Kris whispered. 
    "Yifan. Do I need to take you to the hospital, or are you about to do something supernatural?" I said, enunciating every syllable deliberately and calmly. I would not freak out. I would not freak out. I would not—
    .  

    Kris tried to get up, swayed, and would have fallen on the floor if I didn't see his eyes start to go back. I lunged forward and shoved my shoulder under one of his arms, keeping him upright and shaking him back awake. Kris moaned and I sighed, scratching at the back of my neck and reaching out to dig through my box of medicine. 
    "Kris! Hospital or no hospital?" I finally snapped. He blinked his eyes back open and sighed, shaking his head. 
    "No hospital." Kris said, scrubbing at his face with the palm of his hand. 
    "I've got Tylenol for your fever...are you in pain?" I asked, reading the directions on the back of the box. Kris nodded and I ruffled his hair gently, looking up at his face. My eyes went automatically to my hand in his hair, and I frowned when I noticed a strange inconsistency against the silver. 
    His hair had blonde streaks in it. Even as I watched, more streaks patterned out across the silver, turning his hair a gleaming dark blonde. I pulled my hand back with a frown, looking back at his wings. There were gold streaks in the silver membranes, spreading slowly along the pattern of his veins. 
    "Kris, are you supposed to be changing colors?" I whispered, scratching the back of my neck. Kris opened his eyes and coughed, looking back at his wings. 
    "Okay, I've got good news and bad news." Kris panted, his eyes fluttering shut before they blinked back open. 
    "Bad news first please." I said, my worry growing to choke the back of my throat. Kris nodded, giving me a small tired smile. 
    "This is not going to be a very fun experience for either of us." Kris warned. I nodded, urging him to explain. "But it'll be over in a few hours."
    "What is going on?" I whispered. Kris' hand found mine and he squeezed it gently, giving me a reassuring smile. 
    "Um...didn't you ever think it was kind of weird that I had gold eyes but silver wings?" Kris asked shyly. I paused a few moments, trying to think of an appropriate response, and finally just shrugged. 
    "I wasn't really focusing on the individual weirdness of specific things when we first met..." I said slowly, arching an eyebrow. Kris chuckled, ruffling my hair gently. 
    "Well, now that the subject has come up," Kris smiled. "I'm finally reaching my middle-aged body." 
    "Um...what?" I said, struggling to close my gaping mouth. Kris chuckled again, reaching one hand back to rub the juncture where his wing joined his body. 
    "My wings will get bigger, I'll change color, I'll get stronger..." Kris rattled off improvements, all the while turning an ashy grey color. 
    "Are you going to be sick?" I interrupted, watching a small bead of sweat make its way from his hairline. 
    "No." Kris said firmly, sounding like he was speaking more to himself. "I just have to breathe."
    "I'll get you some water." I said slowly, standing up and walking to the kitchen. 
    I filled a glass with water and stopped to breathe, shaking my head. I just had to get him through the next few hours, right? He said it would be over soon. 
    I walked back up the stairs and presented the glass to him, smiling despite myself when Kris placed his hand over mine and kept my hand on the glass when he grabbed it. He took a long gulp, using his grip on me to sit me down next to him. I leaned into his side and took the empty glass from him, setting it on the bedside table. 
    "I'm going to shower." Kris said quietly, looking at our fingers laced together. I nodded, giving him a concerned look. 
    "Are you okay to go alone?" I asked. A familiar smirk lifted one side of his mouth and Kris fit his hands easily around my hips when I stood up, pulling me to stand between his spread knees. 
    "I'm okay...but I don't want to." Kris grinned, looking up at me briefly before nuzzling his forehead into my ribs. I my fingers through his changing hair, listening to him breathe against me. 
    I relaxed, leaning into him and savoring his fingers over my hips. He inhaled deeply, tipping his head up again before he stood slowly. My hand found his and I tugged him over to the bathroom, starting up the shower and pulling off my shirt. 
    Kris tossed the remnants of his shirt in the trash, flexing his wings so slowly I could tell it hurt him. He grimaced and clawed at the back of his neck, scratching at his mark the way I had been scratching mine all morning. 
    "Water's warm." I said quietly, looking at the muscles of his torso. I had always been able to tell that his muscles were laid a little bit differently than mine, engineered for flight and speed, but I could swear I could see them moving themselves around under his skin. 
    Kris nodded, pulling off his sweatpants and opening the shower door. He ducked inside and I paused a moment to watch him, looking at the way he closed his eyes and tipped his head up to the water. It ran in silvery streams down over his jaw to the hollow of his throat before it split across his shoulders, pooling along the muscles of his arms and chest. 
    "You coming in?" Kris asked, opening his eyes to look at me. I smiled and nodded, opening the door after tugging my pajama bottoms down and kicking them over next to his. 
    The warm water tickled as it traced through my hair, my hands rubbing over my face and wetting it properly. Kris rested one palm on my waist, keeping a physical connection with me while he used the other hand to smear shampoo through his hair. 
    "That is not the way to wash your hair." I scolded him with a light smile, turning to reach up with both hands, running my fingers through his hair. 
    Kris rested his other palm on my waist, hunching his shoulders towards me while I worked. I ran my fingertips through his hair, slicking it back with heavy foam, and I could feel Kris' eyes heavy on my face. I decided to ignore him and just enjoy the velvety caresses his fingertips were drawing into my sides. 
    I raised myself on my toes to check that I had gotten the back of his head properly and Kris leaned down, pulling me against him and meeting my mouth with his. I could feel his biceps flexing when my own arms slid over them to settle around his neck, a big glob of soap sliding down to his nose to land on mine. 
    I jerked away and sneezed, Kris' warm laugh heating me like liquid gold. He moved to rinse off his hair, closing his eyes and withdrawing his hands from my waist to scrub through his hair. I placed one palm on the juncture of his neck and shoulder, pulling him down to meet his mouth again. 
    His lips were warm and full on mine, the slight stubble on his cheeks scratching mine. I opened my mouth and one of his hands settled under my chin, tipping my mouth up gently and cupping my jaw softly, his thumb smoothing over my skin. The steam carried his scent to my nose, mingling with the fresh scent of the shampoo and my own body wash, creating a soothing cocktail. 
    I could feel the same hesitation in Kris that sometimes occurred when we were kissing, but this time I knew he was being careful for himself. My hands slipped around to massage between his wings, breathing in his moan and feeling him lean further into me. 
    I worked in careful circles with my hands, working out the knots in his back and distracting him with rhythmic flicks of my tongue. Kris cupped the sides of my face, his fingertips combing through my hair and his chest pressing against mine. 
    I let my hands travel back around his ribs to run along his flexed biceps and then rest on his shoulders. Kris t