Content warning: Vomit, parental abandoment

The sun was just starting to rise when Robaire woke up to the sound of someone gagging. Concerned, he hopped out of bed to investigate. When he got to the bathroom, he found Tae-young hunched over the toilet, having just finished vomiting. He dropped down to his side. "Dude, are you okay?"

"I threw up," said Tae-young in a small voice.

"Yeah, I can see that," said Robaire. "Are you sick or is this cramps?"

"Sick," whimpered Tae-young. "Cramps don't make me throw up."

After getting everything cleaned up, Robaire picked Tae-young up and brought him back to bed. Tae-young clung to Robaire, curled up in his lap, feeling miserable. Robaire rubbed his back and softly shushed him. He had to resist the urge to bounce or rock him; that would just make it worse.

Then from the other room, there came a fit of harsh, phlegmy coughing. That sounds like Z, thought Robaire. He eased Tae-young down into bed. "I'm gonna go see what's wrong. I'll come back, okay?" He left the room and went to poke his head into Z's room. "Hey, are you good?"

Z groaned, and gestured to his throat.

"You've lost your voice?"

Z nodded. Robaire sat next to him and ruffled his hair. "Aw, that sucks. Tae isn't feeling great either."

A loud sneeze then erupted from behind them. Both jumped nearly a foot in the air, and turned to see Jesse standing in the doorway, wrapped in a robe and cradling a box of tissues. "You guys are sick too?"

"I feel fine," said Robaire. "But Z's lost his voice, and Tae's been puking."

Jesse swabbed at his nose with a tissue. "Hopefully T is fide."

T was not fine; he then came stumbling out of his room, flushed and sweaty. "Why are there monkeys on the ceiling?"

The other boys all looked at him, confused. "What?"

T chuckled. "You've all got flowers on your heads." He laughed, and then flopped face-first down onto the floor.

"...Okay, he's definitely sick." Robaire got up and scooped T up off the floor to put him back in bed.

Jesse sniffled. "What was he eved sayig?"

"No idea," said Robaire when he came back. "This is so weird, why do all of you have something different? You have a cold, T has a fever, Tae has a stomach flu, and Z has a regular flu."

Jesse sighed. "It's our lucky day."

After taking medicine and a very long nap all around, the boys all settled down on the couch, bundled up in blankets, to see if there was anything good to watch. Jesse decided to put on Teletoon, thinking that would be a good choice for something easy-going.

"What if we're not even human, and we're all secretly animal crackers?" T asked, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling.

"Oh, shush, Aarod," grumbled Jesse.

Tae-young laid curled up on the end of the couch, clutching his stomach with his face twisted into a pained grimace. Looking over at him, Z picked him up and let him smush his face into his chest.

"Are any of you guys hungry?" Robaire looked up from the table. "I'm going to put on some chicken soup."

"That would be greatly appreciated," said Jesse. Z nodded as well.

"What if chickens could turn into dinosaurs?" T asked, dizzy.

Robaire sighed, and came over to the couch. "Tae, buddy, you still don't have any appetite?"

Tae-young sighed, and deflated a bit. "No…"

"Alright," said Robaire. "We can get you something later if your nausea lets up."

That evening, Jesse and the Aarons had gone back upstairs to their rooms to either nap or read. Tae-young remained downstairs to hang out with Robaire. Robaire had set up the Gamecube so the two of them could play Smash Bros together.

"Alright, there he is," said Robaire, catching up to a CPU Link so his Bowser could breath fire on him and then beat the crap out of him.

Tae-young sighed and laid his head back, barely interested in playing the game. Once they had won the match, he put the controller down and curled up, sleepy. Robaire put a blanket over him and tucked him in.

"Do you think my family misses me?"

Robaire cocked an eyebrow. "They threw you out. Why do you care?"

Tae-young gripped Robaire's arm. "I know…but they're still my family."

Robaire brushed a bit of hair out of Tae-young's face. "Do you think they care about what happened to you?"

Tae-young was very quiet for a moment. "...No." He laid his head down on Robaire's shoulder and massaged his lower belly.

Robaire picked him up, and Tae-young clung to him, just as he had done that morning. He gently rocked him back and forth, humming a soft tune.

Tae-young hiccupped, and his eyes went wide. Knowing exactly what that meant, Robaire rustled him up and brought him over to the bin to throw up.

"Are you okay?"

Robaire turned, and saw Jesse coming back downstairs with something in his hand. "He's friggin' miserable, man." He brought Tae-young into the kitchen to the sink to rinse his mouth out.

"I have his bedicine," said Jesse, giving Tae-young two small, pink pills. "The rest of us got ours too."

"Jess, you're sick too, you need your rest." Robaire brought Jesse and Tae-young back to the couch, switched the TV to the cable channel, and handed Tae-young the remote. "Here. You get to pick."

Tae-young found the Lifetime channel just in time for some Golden Girls reruns. He snuggled into Jesse's lap, which always put him at ease.

When the reruns were over, Jesse rustled Tae-young up. "Cobe on. I can't carry you up the stairs, you're too big."

"Didn't I tell you already that you need your rest?"

"Dude, you've beed taking care of us all day. You go get sobe rest." Jesse led both younger boys upstairs, and after shooing Robaire off to his room, brought Tae-young to bed. He tucked him in, and held his hand. Tae-young weakly whimpered; he didn't want Jesse to leave his side.

"Jesse?"

Jesse looked towards the doorway, where T and Z were standing, a bit shaky. "We can't sleep."

Jesse noticed how tired they both looked; they really meant it. "Well, here. Tae could use sobeone to keep hib cobpany."

Jesse went back to bed, while T and Z took his place by Tae-young's side. T held Tae-young tight. "It's okay, li'l bro, we gotcha."

"I don't get it," said Tae-young softly. "You guys are all getting better, why aren't I?"

"I don't know," said T, "but we'll still be right here to take care of you." He lifted Tae-young's chin up a bit and nuzzled his nose; he loved that. Tae-young relaxed, and laid his head on T's shoulder. T then turned to Z. "Come on, bring it in."

Z sighed but smiled, took his place on the other side of the bed, and offered his hand for Tae-young to hold. The three sicklings all laid back and relaxed their shoulders, and soon they had all drifted off into Dreamland.

The next morning, as the band members began to wake up, the skies were cloudy and rain was falling. Despite the less-than-stellar weather, they were doing better than the previous day. Jesse was no longer congested, Z was getting his voice back, and Tae wasn't as queasy anymore.

As T was getting out of bed, the slightly-ajar door to Robaire's room caught his eye. He peeked inside, and found Robaire just getting up. "Hey, dude. We're all feeling better now."

"Yeah?" Robaire rubbed his eyes. "That's good." He pulled himself out of bed and came to check up on Tae-young. "How're ya feeling, mon gars?"

Tae-young yawned. "Still not great, but I don't feel like puking anymore." His stomach made a low rumble. "I think I'm probably just hungry."

Robaire chuckled. "Come on, let's go eat."