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Dark was not sick.
That funny feeling in the back of his throat would go away. The steadily increasing in strength headache would dissipate. The occasional coughing that made his chest feel on fire was just… because of some dust.
It would all go away…. wouldn't it?
"Hey, Dark…" Second croaked as he shuffled downstairs. Dark winced at the rasp in his younger brother's voice. Despite that, Second continued. "Where's Vic?"
Dark looked over into the kitchen to find it empty. Vic usually made breakfast since Alan was usually at work by now.
"Not sure…" Dark pondered in a strained tone as he struggled to keep his voice from cracking and his throat from erupting into a series of coughs.
"Where's Chosen?" Second asked, almost whining. Dark noticed the orange hollowhead was rubbing his throat and holding back tears.
"Are you okay, Sec?" Dark approached.
Second coughed out a painful sounding whine. "I want to hug Cho…" he managed to say weakly.
"C'mere," Dark embraced Second while straightening his posture to appear tougher and making his voice sound strong.
Second's small figure melted into the hug and Dark took notice of how hot the kid's forehead was. He wasn't supposed to be as hot as the oven, right? That was concerning.
A thump on the stairs behind them had the orange and red hollowheads turning to see Chosen, blearily rubbing his eyes and groaning softly.
"Cho!" Second chattered, still rasping somewhat. He immediately headed to Chosen and the two hugged.
Dark narrowed his eyes at Chosen, for more than just stealing away his hug. Chosen's eyes looked puffy, but his cheeks remained free of tear streaks, telling Dark it was as a result of a symptom rather than something emotionally triggering.
Were they all getting sick or something? Judging by circumstances, those two must be.
But Dark was fine.
Definitely.
"Good morning," Chosen wheezed, then cleared his throat and let out a single cough. He muttered, "Stick, I feel sore…"
"Same," Second whined over Chosen's shoulder. "Can we have breakfast? I'm hungry and my stomach hurts…"
"Hm?" Chosen glanced at the kitchen, rubbing circles on Second's back comfortingly. "Did Vic sleep in?"
Dark shrugged and decided to head for the stairs. He reached the top and headed down the hallway.
Upon entering Vic's room, he noticed the lump that was Vic under the covers was shaking slightly. Very quick breathing, just shy of hyperventilation, could be heard.
"Vic?" Dark asked, unable to keep from clearing his throat again. He approached Vic's bed and pulled down the covers to find the eldest sibling curled up in the fetal position, eyes wide open and panicking.
"Vic!" Dark breathed out. He took ahold of the grey hollowhead's shoulders, and used his super strength –though it seemed harder to do than normal– to bring him to a sitting position.
"H-h-hey D-dar-da-rr-" Vic stuttered before erupting into a coughing fit. Then his body glitched out for a moment, bright unusual colors filling the area around him for just the briefest moment, Vic yelping out in discomfort as it happened.
"Stick!" Dark gasped out in surprise, his hands still resting on Vic's shoulders. "Okay, let's go get some water, okay?"
"N-no," Vic wheezed, a shudder running through his body. He let out a dry sob. "Ca-can't m-mo-mo-move…"
The grey hollowhead felt like his head was on fire and his body was full of concrete; the glitching out thing didn't help much.
"Oh…" Dark mumbled. "Um, I'll bring you some water then? Are you alright if I leave for a few minutes?"
Vic coughed in response, his body shuddering. He groaned and managed a curt nod. "F-fine…" he tried to speak reassuringly through his raspy and pained tone. Weakly, he offered Dark a shaky thumbs up before the hand fell back upon the bed and Vic continued trembling.
Dark hesitantly let go of Vic's shoulders, carefully resting him against his pillow. Another glitch shuddered and wracked its way across Vic's body and Vic inhaled sharply with a pained expression gracing his features. Dark winced.
"I'll be back." Dark told him, straightening and dashing out of the bedroom door, not even bothering to close it. He ignored the fuzzy sore throat he was starting to get annoyed with.
Chosen had gotten out the cereal and milk and Second was already half-way through a bowl, his eyelids fluttering and himself practically stand-sleeping as he ate.
Chosen made eye contact with Dark and raised an eyebrow in question, clearly wondering where Vic was.
"He's bedridden," Dark huffed, running into the kitchen and fumbling on a shelf for a cup. Quickly, he turned to the sink, filling it up halfway so he could run back up the stairs without spilling.
The throbbing in his head was getting worse and Dark had to clear his throat once again.
Chosen pinched his mouth in concern for Vic as well as Dark. All of them were sick, weren't they...
Second sniffled and wiped his nose, laying his head on the table tiredly. Chosen coughed once again, putting a fist to his mouth to stifle it.
"I think I might head over next door and see if our quadruplet neighbors have some advice for what to do," Chosen mentioned with a croak to Dark as the red hollowhead grabbed a pitcher and filled it up to take upstairs.
"I thought they went on vacation since yesterday evening?" Dark replied, turning off the faucet and taking the full cup and pitcher to the stairway.
"Oh," Chosen facepalmed as Dark headed up to where Vic was. "You're right, I forgot about that."
Second let out a pained cough, his throat sounding clogged and blocked. Chosen sidled up alongside him, offering the kid a side hug for comfort.
What else could he do? They rarely got sick. Circumstances just had to be so, that all four of them were sick at the same time.
A few short knocks at the door startled Second and Chosen, both sticks lifting their heads up to look at the door. Chosen got up, coughed into his arm and opened the door.
King stood there with a light smile on his face that dropped the instant he met Chosen's eyes. He was holding a basket covered with a cloth that smelled like some sort of pastry, though with Chosen's sense of smell dulled by his sickness the black hollowhead had a hard time placing specifics.
"Purple asked me to bring over some muffins for your Dad and you guys, since Alan has been going through a muffin craze for the last several weeks…" King trailed off, tilting his head and examining Chosen with concern.
"Oh, come in," Chosen rubbed his head as the headache he'd felt earlier began to come back. "We're… kinda not doing so great at the moment, so muffins sound wonderful."
King's worried gaze deepened when he saw Second's glazed over look and heard the occasional hacking coughs Second emitted involuntarily.
"Hey, I have some medicine on me, just out in the basket on my bike," King suggested to Chosen.
Chosen's eyes sharpened and narrowed, his eyes becoming nervous and almost… almost afraid if King had anything to say about it.
"What kind of medicine….?" Chosen asked the tall stick slowly and suspiciously.
"I have cough syrup, or the tablet kind," King hummed in thought. "I have some generic fever medication pills… I got a whole kit of stuff, really."
"We're… okay," Chosen sucked in a quick breath. He still appeared very nervous and skittish, seemingly primed to run at the first sign of medicine. "N-no need to-"
Chosen let out a series of coughs, interrupting himself. He tried to stop and cover his mouth, even turning away with a flushed face of embarrassment.
King sighed and crossed his arms, determination settling upon him.
"Alright, I didn't want to have to do this, but given the situation…"
"Wh-what?" Chosen managed to say before coughing a few more times.
King slowly grinned, almost in a malicious manner, and walked out the door, leaving the house.
Only to return a moment later carrying a white box with a red cross symbol upon it, as well as a large canvas bag that Chosen was certain contained multitudes of the dreaded medicine.
"Okay, I think we'll start with this," King hummed, pulling out a box of cough tablets. Chosen recognized the brand in an instant – traumatizing, terrible tasting stuff– and suddenly leaped backward and landed on the table.
The hollowhead bared his teeth and hissed in a feral manner, though King completely ignored him and was undeterred.
Second's eyes fluttered and he managed to get a good look at King, though recognition did not appear in his eyes. He remained confused, dazed, and out of it.
King met Second's eyes and decided that he should prioritize the sickest hollowhead before checking on the others.
Taking out a thermometer, King walked towards Second –and Chosen who was next to Second on top of the table– with the intent of seeing how bad his probable fever was.
Chosen, not quite in his right mind yet, hissed again and scampered off the table, facing King and standing in front of Second protectively.
King stopped and sighed. Did he need to wrestle Chosen down in order to help Second?
Then, Second let out a soft whine. Chosen's eyes widened and he gasped, standing up from his crouched position. He was at Second's side in a second, scrutinizing the youngest's glassy and pained features.
King slowly approached with the thermometer, deliberately keeping his hands in full view of Chosen. The moment King took a step forward, Chosen's eyes snapped to King's, pupils dilated and out of the ordinary for the usually composed and serious stick.
However, Chosen didn't do anything other than keep an eye on King and the tall stick was able to kneel next to Second, who's breathing kept hitching painfully. He didn't even have the energy to cough anymore, it seemed.
That was bad.
Carefully, King brushed the electric thermometer across Second's forehead, the device letting out a beep as it loaded up the readings.
106°
King sucked in a breath through grit teeth, his concerned expression much more deepened than previously.
"Chosen, can you find some washcloths and get them damp with cold water?" King turned to the black hollowhead. Chosen had his arms gently wrapped around Second's middle, gripping him protectively and not reacting to King's inquiry.
King bit his lip and sighed. He would have to find them himself wouldn't he?
"King?" a slurred, croaky voice sounded from the stairway, making King whirl around to see who'd spoken.
Dark was there, steadying a very weak and wobbly looking Vic. Dark was using both of his hands and still was struggling. Both didn't look great, but much like Chosen being in better condition than Second, Dark seemed better than Vic.
King frowned in sympathy for the kids. (Yes, Vic was technically a young adult, but King was old enough he decided Vic merited the title.)
King stood and rushed into the living room, and began taking pillows from the couches. With practiced ease, a pillow fort cave was constructed within moments.
"Lay him in here, and then please find some washcloths and get them cold and damp. Second has a fever," King told Dark.
Nodding and clearing his throat, Dark started hobbling over to the fort. He allowed King to come over and help support Vic's weight.
The two gently set Vic down in the corner of the fort, both wincing as Vic's body glitched again.
That must be code sickness of some sort, different than the others.
King started to get worried he didn't have medication for direct sickness in a stick's code, but he'd have to check his bag.
Dark was already going off to a set of drawers and pulling out washcloths.
"Cold and damp?" Dark called over to King, who was feeling Vic's code-pulse and making sure he was otherwise fine.
"Yes!" King called back, standing up and heading back to the dining area. Chosen seemed distant now, similar to Second but on a lesser scale.
Chosen glanced up at King and his eyes cleared a little.
"I'm still not taking medicine…" he mumbled.
"Hm," King replied, digging out a crunchable cough tablet. It was one of the sweetened ones, though it would still taste strange. It was better than the syrup at least.
King held up the tablet. "I think I'll be the judge of that, Chosen."
"Noo…" Chosen moaned weakly and turned his face away, crossing his arms. He kept them crossed stubbornly, even as he was gripped in another bout of coughing. The temptation to rub at his throat was growing.
King was now right next to Chosen and holding up to the medicine tablet.
"Do we need to do this the easy way or the hard way?"
There was something in King's voice that sent chills down Chosen's spine, despite the fact that King was no match for him without that staff Second had told Chosen about. Shutting his eyes, Chosen opened his mouth wide and chomped down on the tablet, making King drop it in the hollowhead's mouth with a yelp and a quick pulling back of his hand.
Not wanting the blasted item in his mouth for longer than absolutely necessary, Chosen was quick to swallow it.
Phew.
The medicine would take a small amount of time to kick in, but the action of having eaten the tablet somehow already made Chosen feel better. He still felt pretty terrible, though.
Refraining from cheering for victory that Chosen had consumed the medication, King faced Dark who had just walked in with a wet washcloth. The red hollowhead also had muffin crumbs on his face and shirt, which seemed hastily wiped away.
“Thank you,” King took the cold cloth from Dark and held it up to Second's forehead. He gently leaned the kid back against the chair, aware of Chosen's eyes on him.
"If this doesn't work, I'll wrap an ice pack in a cloth," King muttered, mostly to himself.
Second had stopped whimpering and sniffling, but he remained feverish and hot to the touch. King sighed in fond exasperation as he was briefly reminded of long nights taking care of Gold when he was sick.
"Okay, Dark. I heard you coughing too," King started turning to face the red hollowhead. "You want the syrup or the pill?"
Dark wasn't there.
King raised an eyebrow in confusion. Where'd Dark run off to in the half a minute he'd tended to Second and Chosen?
As if on cue, the garage door slowly, creakily swung open. It seemed like someone had been in such a rush to get out of there that the door hadn't been shut all the way.
King massaged his forehead and groaned. How did Alan manage them all, he wondered…
He approached the door and took a peek at the garage. A short and panicked rustle of noise was heard, coming from a stack of discarded, empty cardboard that was either due for the recycling, or used for crafts.
King just barely caught a hint of a red arm ducking into a pile, before the rustling sounds ceased and all was still.
King stood for a few moments, eyeing the pile that Dark was obviously hiding in. He sighed and declared aloud, "I am not going to hurt you, Dark. Medicine is not that bad."
Dark, probably not thinking straight because of his condition, replied in a muffled voice, "Medicine can go to the Void for all I care… Tastes terrible. Not worth it."
Dark's voice had gotten progressively whinier and pitiful as he'd spoken.
"I have options, Dark!" King pointed out gently, slowly moving closer to the pile of cardboard. "You can pick which one you think would taste best, and it will help immensely."
Dark remained silent this time, probably having grown wiser to King's slow advances. King pulled another crunchable tablet out of the pack in his back pocket. Good thing he hadn't left it on the table.
Dark noticed King was close. He suddenly burst from the pile, sending flattened cardboard boxes flying through the air.
King –who had been expecting the act– effortlessly and efficiently blocked Dark's path, gently but firmly pulling the stubborn hollowhead into a headlock.
"No!" Dark groaned as he weakly struggled in King's hold, unable to refrain from another brief coughing fit. Tears were visible in the corners of his eyes.
King slipped the pill into Dark's mouth and kept a steady hand on Dark's chin to keep his jaw shut. As predicted, Dark bucked and twisted, trying to get away and spit out the tablet.
Dark ended up using the last of his strength reserves in his failed attempts at escaping and the pill had enough time to dissolve that King released Dark's jawline.
"You are officially, the most stubborn child I have ever met," King sighed, watching as Dark tried to hack out the pill he had just swallowed, without success, occasionally letting out noises of overdramatic gagging and embellished disgust.
It wasn't long before Dark started drooping and swaying, his last ounces of strength very low. King loosened his grip and shifted his position from headlock to supporting Dark's shoulders. He carefully guided Dark back into the house.
It took a minute or two, but King eventually did get Dark to settle down and curl up in the pillow fort. The instant Dark was fully flat on the blanketed floor, his eyes fluttered and he snuggled up next to Vic.
Vic seemed okay already, his body naturally fighting off the code sickness with increasing ease and speed. Vic's breathing was slow and calm as he slept, and he unconsciously wrapped his arms around Dark.
Briefly smiling at the adorable sight, King then stood and headed back to Second and Chosen.
Chosen's eyes were clearer –the cough tablet having kicked in somewhat and in turn helping Chosen think clearer– and he was actively in the process of wrapping an ice pack in a small towel, occasionally glancing worriedly at Second, who remained almost as feverish as before.
"I'll get the fever medicine," King said, pulling out the small box from his kit. "Ah, there!"
Chosen visibly bit back another bare of the teeth and a hiss, his mouth scrunching up in disgust and apprehension immediately, despite his gentle actions toward Second in the same moment.
"Hey, Second," King whispered softly, gently and carefully shaking Second's shoulder and crouching down. Second stirred and his dazed eyes turned to King.
"Murfgha…" Second mumbled incoherent gibberish. King felt the kids temperature with his hand and winced at the heat. It almost seemed like Second had gotten worse, but he'd need to grab the thermometer out of the bag to check.
For now, medication.
King didn't need to do much more than touch Second's cheek before his mouth opened a little. Droopy, and an involuntary action most likely, but open all the same.
King slipped the dissolvable pill in. Upon noticing a partial cup of water on the table, King lifted it to Second's lips and slowly trickled the fluid down the kid's throat.
Second took the water well enough. His eyes fluttered shut in exhaustion and he leaned into Chosen's guarding, protective grasp. Chosen started petting Second's hair and made no other sign of conscious thought. He was gone to the classic instincts of a hollowhead.
King quietly retrieved the thermometer to check Second's fever.
99°
That was still high, but so much better than before.
Sighing in relief and wiping some sweat from his brow, King put his medicine boxes back into his bag. He could only imagine the delightful conversation he would have with Purple later.
He'd speak of how lucky it had been that he carried around all this stuff for so long, that it had come in such great handy. King also wouldn't hesitate to say "I told you so" to his son.
Purple had always been embarrassed and iffy about King's protective, sometimes overprotective nature. Hence his eyeroll-filled protests on the fact King had a full blown medicine and first-aid kit stored nearby his person at all times.
Smiling to himself, King gently walked over to Chosen and took his shoulder. Chosen's head snapped around to glance at King. His eyes flared a dim red, powers dulled by his lack of energy but managing their usual threatening menace.
King paid it no heed and gently helped Chosen to his feet. Chosen was quick to pick up Second with what little strength he was hanging onto.
King guided the two into the living room and helped them settle into the pillow fort. As soon as the two were laying down, Chosen's eyes started growing heavier, the exhaustion finally hitting him full force.
"Sleep well, kiddos," King whispered, sitting on the floor to watch over them if anyone needed something else.
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"And then I woke up in a pillow fort," Second told his friends. "I don't really remember much else than that."
"A pillow fort?!" Blue exclaimed.
"We need to remake it!" Yellow stimmied his arms up and down excitedly. "Pillow forts are awesome!"
"King really channeled his inner dad energy, didn't he?" Green chuckled behind his hand.
"Yeah!" Second giggled. "When Dad got back home and found King here, he was so confused. Then he got worried and wondered why we didn't call him if we were all sick since he would have immediately taken the day off to take care of us."
"And I almost got grounded because I didn't call!" Vic said from the doorway. "Once he learned I literally couldn't move, he was cool about it, but still…"
"Aw, that just means he's worried!" Dark popped up happily from inside the laundry hamper, startling Vic and getting a yelp from the eldest. "He loves us!"
"How long have you been in there waiting to give someone a code-attack?!" Vic gasped.
"Oh, I dunno~" Dark smiled innocently. "Maybe I fell asleep in here~"
"You did not!" Vic growled playfully, failing to hide a slight laugh. Grinning in a mischevious manner, Vic raised his hands. "Prepare for tickles!!"
Dark shrieked and hopped out of the basket quickly, turning to the stairway to escape Vic's "wrath"
Second smiled and laughed along with his friends at the sight.
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