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Jin blinked his eyes open.  He looked down at little Kookie who was nestled between two pillows next to him.  He was still sound asleep.  Jin climbed out of bed after making sure Kookie was secured between the pillows.  He headed out to the living room, expecting to find the younger twins playing with their toys.  But the living room was spotless.  That was odd.  They were usually awake by now.  He headed back to their room, opening the door gently.

“Tae…?  Jiminie…?”

Jin’s eyes traveled to the large bed in the middle of the room.  Two piles of fluffy black hair were sticking out of from under the sheets.  Jin crept over to the bed before settling himself on the edge of it.  He shook Tae, then Jimin.

“Babies…time to wake up,” Jin said softly.

The only response he got was a protestant whine.  He scooted off the bed and knelt next to it.  Then he pulled back the blankets.

“Nuu…” Jimin whined.

Tae simply shivered and clung to Jimin.

 “Tired, Appa…” Tae mumbled.  Then he shivered again.

Jin sat back on the bed.  He knit his eyebrows together.  The twins never slept this late.  Especially not Jimin.

“Do you two not feel good?” Jin asked, placing his palm on Tae’s forehead.  Then on Jimin’s.  They were definitely warm.

“’m cold, Appa…” Tae coughed.

Jin scooped Tae up into his lap.  Tae instantly buried his face into Jin’s chest.

“Me too, Appa…” Jimin climbed up onto Jin’s lap.

Jin sighed.  Having one sick kid was bad enough, but two?  And now he had to keep Kookie away from the twins today.  Why couldn’t it have been a Saturday?

Tae shivered again, breaking Jin from his train of thought.

“Appa…”

“I know, baby.” Jin pulled Tae’s fluffy blanket off his side of the bed, draping it over his shoulders.  Then Jin pulled Jimin’s blanket off the other side of the bed and draped it over his shoulders.

“All right,” Jin stood up, adjusting the twins on his hips.

“Appa…wan’ paci…” Tae grumbled.

Jin groaned.  He sat back down on the bed.  Then he grabbed Tae’s pacifier off the bed and slipped in into the tiny boy’s mouth.

“There.  Jiminie, do you want yours?”

Jimin nodded.

Two minutes later, Jin carried Tae, Jimin, and their stuffed animals back into his bedroom.  Kookie was wide awake now and cooing up at the ceiling fan.  Great.  Jin placed the twins in the bed and tucked them both into his ginormous comforter.  Then he scooped Kookie up.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, ok?  Will you guys be ok?”

They gave him no response, both already half asleep.  Jin smiled.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Jin was back a few minutes later with a bottle for Kookie, two sippy cups for Jimin and Tae, a thermometer, and some medicine.

First, he fed Kookie his bottle.  The hungry little four-month-old finished it in two minutes.  Then Jin left him in the corner of the recliner.  The tiny baby was happy to sit and coo while his appa checked on his older brothers.

Jin took the thermometer off the nightstand where he had left it and slipped it in Jimin’s ear.  38.6.  Yikes.  He stuck it in Tae’s ear next. 38.3.  Not as bad, but still high.  Jin stared down at his two sleeping babies.  He supposed he should let them sleep for now.  They could take their medicine when they woke up later.

Jin stood up and walked back over to the recliner.  He knelt down in front of it.  Kookie looked at him with wide eyes.  He had his tiny fist in his mouth as he kicked his legs.

“Hi, Kookie, are you a happy baby?”

Kookie grinned and let out a tiny giggle as he continued to kick his legs.  Then he cooed.

“Oh yeah?  Tell me more.”

Kookie continued to let out soft coos while he chewed on his fist.  Jin smiled as he watched his joyful youngest.  He hoped Kookie wouldn’t get sick.  It was never fun to have a sick baby.  They couldn’t communicate how they felt, so it was always a frustrating guessing game.

He remembered the time Tae and Jimin had been sick together when they were babies.  He had gotten one sick twin to fall asleep, but then the other one would be crying in his ear.  And would wake the first up.  Then he sat there with two babies wailing in his ears.  Jin’s wife had been of no help then either.  She had left for work and told him he could handle them himself.  Her leaving their life hadn’t really changed much in his.  Now he just worked more hours than he had before.

Jin scooped Kookie up off the recliner.  He needed to make some soup for the twins.  Jin took Kookie to the kitchen and laid him on his back in the playpen.

“All right.  Now I need to make some soup for your brothers.”

Kookie giggled and kicked his legs.

“It’s too bad you’re too small to stick in the highchair.  You could watch me.  But you aren’t big enough yet.  So you get to stay in here.”

Jin set to making the soup.  Kookie cooed at the mobile above him while Jin finished the soup.  At some point Kookie flipped himself onto his stomach.  He cooed for a few more minutes before he started crying.  Jin turned off the soup and wandered over to the playpen.  He scooped Kookie up.

“You little goose.  Did you roll yourself over?”

Kookie grinned and giggled.

“You silly.” Jin pinched Kookie’s nose.  Kookie stared up at him with wide eyes.

“All right.  Let’s go check on your brothers, shall we?”

Jin headed back to his bedroom and slowly pushed to door open.  He tiptoed inside.  It appeared Jimin was still sound asleep.  Tae popped his little head out from under the covers when Jin walked in, however.

“Appa?”

“How you feeling, Tae-Tae?” Jin asked as he sat down on the bed.

“’m cold…”

Jin placed his hand on Tae’s forehead gently.  Of course, Tae’s fever hadn’t gone down at all.

“Appa, not have paci.” Tae whined sadly.

“Oh, did you lose it in the bed?”

“Don’ know.”

Jin lifted the covers slightly and fished Tae’s pacifier out of the thick folds of the comforter.  Then he returned it to Tae’s mouth.

“There you go, baby.”

“Tank ‘oo, Appa.” Tae lisped around his pacifier.  His eyes were slowly fluttering shut again.

“Baby, can you stay awake a little longer?  I made you some soup.”

“Oh?  Soup?” Tae looked up at Jin with wide, tired eyes.

“Yeah.  You want me to go get you some?”

“Yeah…” Tae nodded slowly.

“Ok.  I’ll be right back, baby.”

Jin climbed off the bed and stuck Kookie in his playpen next to the bed.  Jin was so glad they had three of these.  Then he headed out to the kitchen to get Tae’s soup.  He returned and minute later with two small bowls of soup on a tray.  He had chosen deep bowls and put a small amount of soup in them so that it was hard to spill.  He sat down next to Tae on the bed and set the tray on the nightstand.  Then he sat Tae up.

Tae pulled his pacifier out of his mouth and pulled the blankets up around himself. “Ok.  Wan’ soup, Appa.”

Jin chuckled as he reached for one of the bowls on the nightstand. “Can you ask, baby?”

Tae looked up at Jin with wide eyes. “Can have soup, Appa?”

“Yes you can, baby.” Jin scooped a spoonful of soup from the bowl and blew on it gently.  Then he cupped his hand under in.

“Say ‘ah,’ Tae-Tae.”

Tae opened his mouth for the bite of soup. “Ahhh.”

Jin slipped the spoonful of soup into Tae’s mouth before returning the spoon to the bowl.

“Mmm, taste good.” Tae hummed and smiled faintly.

“You want more?”

Tae nodded.  Jin fed him a few more bites of the soup before Tae decided he was full.

“No more, Appa.  Full.”

“You’re full?”

Tae nodded.

“Ok.” Jin set the bowl of soup back on the tray. “I need you to take some medicine, baby.” He grabbed the bottle of medicine and turned back towards Tae, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Nuuuu, don’ wan’ me’cine.” Tae coughed. “Me’cine icky…”

“I know, baby.  But the medicine will help you feel better.”

Tae shook his head, his eyes welling with tears. “Nuu….  Don’ wan’ it…”

“C’mon, Tae-Tae.  It’ll be over before you know it.”

Tae pouted and stared at the mattress.

“Tae-Tae.  If you don’t take the medicine and you get sicker, I’m gonna have to take you to the doctor to get a shot.”

Tae looked up at Jin with wide eyes. “Nuu…” A tear fell onto his cheek. “Don’ like shots…”

“I know, baby.  You need to take the medicine so you don’t have to get a shot, though.”

Tae sniffed and nodded. “Ok…” he responded in a tiny voice.

Jin unscrewed the medicine bottle and poured some of it into a spoon.

“All right, Tae-Tae.  Here you go.  Say ‘ah.’”

“Ahh…”

Jin slipped the spoon into Tae’s mouth.

“Swallow it, baby.  It will taste better once you swallow it.”

Tae cringed.  But then he swallowed the medicine.  Jin was quick to hand him his sippy cup.  Tae took a few sips from it before handing it back to Jin.

“Can sleep now?”

“Yes, baby, you can sleep now.”

Tae slipped his pacifier back in his mouth and lay back down.  Jin tucked him in.

“Appa.”

“Yes, baby?”

“Can snuggle?”

Jin smiled and slipped under the covers with Tae.  Kookie had fallen asleep in the playpen, so he could snuggle Tae right now.

“C’mere, baby.”

Tae crawled up onto Jin’s chest and cuddled into him.  Jin kissed his forehead.

“Sleep tight, baby.”

——————–

Jin woke up an hour and a half later to Kookie crying.  He slowly shifted Tae off of himself and tucked him in.  Then he made his way over to the playpen.  He scooped Kookie up into his arms.

“Hi there, baby.  Were you lonely?”

Kookie buried his face in Jin’s chest.

“Are you a hungry baby?  Is that why you were crying?”

Jin carried Kookie out to the kitchen.  He pulled out the container of formula.  He heated up some water and poured it into a bottle.  Then he mixed the formula powder in.  Kookie grinned and clapped his hands.

“Yeah?  You want this?”

Kookie grabbed at the bottle.

“All right, all right.  Let’s go back to our room.”

Jin headed back to the bedroom.  He didn’t want to leave the twins alone for long.  Kookie pouted and reached for the bottle the entire time.  Once they got to the bedroom, Jin settled himself in the armchair and laid Kookie across his lap.  Kookie cooed and reached for the bottle.  Jin slipped the nipple into Kookie’s mouth.  Kookie happily sucked on the bottle, still cooing.  His cooing sounded more like humming through the nipple of the bottle.

“Is it good, Kookie?”

Kookie grinned at Jin behind the bottle.  Jin chuckled.

“You’re a happy baby now, aren’t you?”

“Appa…”

Great.  Now Jimin was awake.  It was probably a good thing.  The soup either needed to be put away or eaten in the next half an hour.

“Hang on, Minnie.  Kookie needs to finish his bottle.”

“Ok…”

A couple minutes later, Jin set Kookie back in the playpen.  Much to Kookie’s disapproval.  He started throwing a fit.  Jin sighed.  Should he risk waking Tae up, or try to feed Jimin single-handedly?  He decided it would be better to just let Kookie cry.  Tae would probably fall right back asleep if he woke up.

Jin headed over to the bed.

“Do you want some soup, Minnie?”

“Yeah…”

“Ok.  I’m going to go heat it up, ok?”

Jimin nodded.  Jin quickly took the soup out to the kitchen and came back with it a minute later.  He sat down on the edge of the bed.  Jimin sat up and opened his mouth for a bite of soup.  Jin slipped a spoonful into his mouth.

“Is it good, baby?”

Jimin nodded. “’s good.  Have more?”

Jin smiled and fed Jimin another bite.  Jimin ate most of the soup before he decided he was full.

“Ok.  You need to take your medicine now, Minnie.”

Jimin nodded.  Jin was glad he wasn’t putting up a fight like Tae had.  Tae had always been the strong-willed twin.  Jimin preferred to please people.

Jin poured Jimin’s medicine onto a spoon and quickly fed it to him.  Then he handed Jimin his sippy cup.

“Do you want to go back to sleep now?”

Jimin nodded again.

“All right.” Jin tucked Jimin back in and felt his forehead.  It seemed a bit cooler than it had earlier.

Once he had tucked Jimin in, Jin went back to the playpen to get Kookie.  He had calmed down, but he was still crying softly and sucking on his thumb.  It was more of a complaint than distress.  Jin scooped him up.  Kookie calmed down and buried his face in Jin’s shirt.

“Are you tired now?  You worked yourself up crying, didn’t you?”

Jin walked over to the armchair and sat down, cradling Kookie in his arms.  Kookie cuddled up against him the second he sat down.  Jin picked Kookie’s pacifier up off the nightstand.  He pulled Kookie’s thumb from his mouth.

“Here, baby, suck on this instead.”

Jin slipped the pacifier into Kookie’s mouth.  Kookie happily sucked on it as his eyes fluttered shut.

“Go to sleep, Kookie.  It’s nap time for you.”