Sky is blue. Roses are red. Grass is green.

Candy is awesome. Ice cream is yummy . So is Chocolate .

Not anymore.

Now they are all icky.

Candies are icky. Ice cream is icky. Even the chocolate ice cream that Niki loved so much is icky as well . The blue sky is icky. The marshmallow clouds floating on it are icky. The red roses in the garden are the velvety green grass that Niki loves to roll around on is icky too.

Everything is icky and gross.

Everything.

It was a bright and sunny morning .Niki was lying in the middle of his dada and pa's bed , forlornly looking out of the clutched his dada's pillow to his chest while he rested his head on the one his pa used.

Dada's pillow. Niki inhaled it deeply and the tiny ache in his little chest eased up a little .It smelled of flowers, honey , sky , breeze …and of smelled of dada.

Niki hadn't seen his dada for one two three four five six….seven days. For seven long days, Niki had been a good boy like his dada had told him to be.

He had taken his nasty bitter syrups and pills that Glen uncle had given him for his hadn't cried a bit even when Nini had approached him with simply "ewyyy!" soup declaring,

"You wanna be better, don't you baba?" Niki had eaten the soup too.

Yes, Niki wanted to be better. He wanted his baby brother to come home soon. He wanted his dada to hug him that was until this morning when pa rushed from bed, washed his face , quickly changed into his suit and whispered goodbye in Niki's ears,

"I'll come back soon Niks!"

Then he was off.

And that was it. All of a sudden the huge room came back to swallow him in whole.

And that's how everything became icky for a little boy who had never seen anything but happiness.

For Niki, sickness meant the comfort of dada's arms. It meant snuggling to his dada's chest to his heart's content and listening to him singing softly in his also meant pa wouldn't go to work and be with Niki all day.

He remembered when he had a bad cough and fever last time.

FLASHBACK

"No..no..no…! Pweaseeeeee!"

A whiny Niki cried from his dada's object of his distress was bottle of gooey black syrup that his pa was holding.

His pa made puppy face at his dada.

"Please Tion? Don't make me?Just see his face!" he implored. Pa hated to see Niki sad for even a second.

"By Zeus! It's like I have two babies instead of one." mumbled his dada. Laying Niki back on bed he overtook the current task from the golden haired man.

Alex gladly handed over the source of his son's distress to his husband who placed it on the bed side blond man breathed a sigh of relief. He hated to see his son cry or to be the source of his pain.

Alex sat beside Niki and kissed his fever warm forehead cyan eyed man shook his head in fond exasperation.

"Hey Alex?"

Alexander looked up at his husband to find the brunette looking at him with an amused expression.

"Hmmm?''

"Have you seen my Niks?"

Alex frowned a little and started to the cyan eyed man subtly shook his head and winked. Alexander nodded and got into the act fully.

"No." he responded blithely.

"Is he under the blanket?" came the next question.

Instead of answering verbally, Alex lifted the blanket with flourish to find a pouty little boy golden haired man pretended to look closely at his son before declaring,

"No! Where did he go?"

Niki had been listening to dada and pa all along. His dada was searching for him. He rose from under the wooly blanket to look at his dada,

"I m hewe dada. Wook at me!" he chirped.

Tion looked at his son with narrowed eyes.

"You look like my Niks for sure!" he murmured.

"I m Niks dada." the little boy pressed on the matter further. His dada not recognizing him was a mishap beyond imagination.

"Nope" Tion shook his head .

Niki's eyes filled with tears. He hid his face under his blanky again and whimpered,

"Why?I am Niki weally."

Niki could hear his dada leaning against the headboard close to him.

" My Niks loves me very much. He knows how sad his fever makes me and he always takes his medicine so that I don't cry. You are not my Niks." Dada looked out of the window and let out a deep sigh.

Niki rose from his bed abruptly. He turned towards his pa who was watching the whole scene . This time he had the medicine in hand.

"Ready baby?" asked glanced at his beautiful husband and smiled at like him,his son hated to see tears in those blue anyone could make Niki swallow the bitter medicine without a single tantrum, it was his dada. And the same applied to him as well.

Niki nodded and swallowed the entire spoonful with a pinched face. Alex chuckled at the sight and kissed the tip of the tiny wrinkled nose.

"Have some water Niks." he said softly. The little boy drank some water and then rushed back to his waiting dada.

"Am I Niks dada?" he asked anxiously to his father who was looking at him with red rimmed hugged his son to his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hmmmm….Yeah. You're my Niks. Don't leave me ever..okay?"

Niki was already halfway to dada's scent always put him to sleep.

"Not goin annywhey dada. Pwomise" he murmured

END OF FLASHBACK

Elena peeked into the master bed room to find Niki sleeping at last. She crept to the bedside and kissed the ruddy cheek. Last night had been a hard one and she didn't blame Niki at all.

The kid had never been away from his dada for more than a few hours. Elena had been expecting the meltdown any moment. She was rather proud that Niki held strong for six long days before having the outburst. He was a little boy after all. Even Elena was missing Tion like crazy.

And she was a grown woman.

Dr. Phillip was right. All the blood tests came back negative except one. The test for pneumonia revealed minor traces of the virus in Niki's blood. But he was quick to assure a pale Alex that it would clear off in a couple of weeks and was nothing to be worried about.

Yeah right.

Not serious.

Try telling that to Niki's dada who had a breakdown of his own when given the news.

The sound of a car broke her train of thoughts. Elena rushed to the front door to find a black Bugatti screeching to a halt under the huge portico outside. The first person to get out was Alex, who descended from the driver's seat and rushed to help out his precious 'cargo'.

It was then that Elena saw him. The door opened and a beautiful man got down holding Alex's hand for support.

"Slowly Tion!" murmured the golden haired man anxiously, prompting a rapid headshake from the brunette. He looked a little pale but held his ground resolutely .

"I am fine Alex!" Elena shook his head from distance. She knew where Niki got all his stubbornness from.

Tion just about turned to pick up the baby carrier but his husband beat him to it.

"Nothing heavy remember?

"Heavy?" the brunette smiled.

"He is much lighter than Niki was at birth." The memory of his chubby baby made him smile . " Not to mention I have been carrying him all along" He placed his hand on his newly healed stomach and looked at his husband who just rolled his eyes in reply.

"I am not taking any risk Tion."

The baby in question was sleeping blissfully. He resembled Tion in every way except one. His hair was a golden fuzz , very much like Alex when he was a baby. He was wearing a tiny red patterned onesie . It was the one that Elena had made for the baby with great care.

It was in the middle of the conversation that both the men saw Elena.

Tion hugged Elena and kissed her cheek.

"Missed you !" she whispered. The brunette smiled and kissed her again.

"I missed you too Elena…so much."

Once the little party was inside the mansion, the inevitable happened. Tion bypassed the waiting couch and started towards Niki's bedroom. But Elena stopped him on his tracks.

"He's not in his room baby."

The brunette frowned.

"Then where is he?"

Elena glanced at Alex before answering.

"He slept with his pa last night."

Tion looked at his husband for clarification. He knew something was went to his husband and held his face within the palm of his hands.

"Baby calm down please."

"Why do I have to keep calm?"

"Last night…" the golden man paused.

"Last night?" pressed Niki's impatient dada.

"Last night Niki cried a lot…and refused to eat."

Tion paled again. His son has never refused his meal in all these years. The blond man quickly hugged his husband as if to pacify his impending outburst .

"It's ok..it's ok Tion."

"No,it's is sick. What if …"

Elena broke in .

"He had a couple spoonfuls after you left baba. But no medicines. He was crying for you both"

She then looked at Alex. When he nodded, she picked up the youngest member of the Petros family and walked towards the newly decorated nursery.

The two doting fathers rushed to their bedroom. It was in pristine condition just as Tion had left it. But the bed was in utter disarray. Their little prince had rolled himself up like a cocoon and was snoring softly.

Tion sat beside his sleeping son and uncovered the precious face he had been aching for. Dried tear tracks testified for a turbulent night. His son was clutching Tion's pillow tightly to his chest. The cyan eyed man bent down and placed a soft kiss on the warm forehead.

Niki was dreaming.

In the dream he was holding dada and pa's hands and they were running together. Soft breeze played with their disheveled hair.

It was a nice dream. All of a sudden Niki felt something touching his forehead, as if he was being tickled with a feather. A scent invaded his senses that drew him out of his restless slumber. Of flowers, honey , sky , breeze …and home. Niki knew this scent. Niki would recognize this scent anywhere. It belonged to his..

"Dada?" Niki jerked up. His dada was looking at him with a face flowing with tears.

"Hey baby?"

Niki didn't waste a single moment. This was what he had been waiting for …one two three four five six seven biiiiig days. A face so beautiful that it made Niki's world so soft and inviting that it made all of Niki's hurdles worthwhile. A voice so sweet that seven days without hearing it made Niki's days icky and gross.

His dada.

"Shhhh!" dada rocked Niki in his usual rhythm.

"Will you go again?" murmured a broken little voice. Dada smiled fondly and shook his head.

"Nope. I am gonna be with my babies forever…big and small".

Niki giggled. He knew who his dada's big baby was. The 'big' baby in question was watching the dada-Niki moment with tender eyes.

But Niki looked around and frowned. "Whe's bwother?"

The two fathers exchanged loving glance. And then Niki's pa answered

"He is sleepin squirt. You will meet him when he wakes up..okay?"

Niki nodded. He was too happy to care. He nuzzled the little curve between dada's neck and shoulders and inhaled the scent of dada's hair.

"Okay."

And then a sudden bright idea made his eyes twinkle with glee. He looked at his dada and shouted

"Let's have a sleep over just like big boys!"

Dada snorted in amusement .He didn't remind his son that it was a bright morning outside. He nodded in acceptance.

"Okay Niks. Sleepover it on papa"

That was exactly how Elena discovered them half an hour later. Niki lying between his fathers , clutching his dada's shirt buttons in his hands. It was a childhood habit of chubby arm was resting on his pa, as if to ensure that both his parents remained within touching distance.

It was well at last.

Sky is blue. Roses are red. Grass is were beautiful…but not so much as Niki's dada.

Candies, ice creams and chocolates are awesomely sweet.

But Niki's dada is the sweetest.

Even pa agreed.