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Flashback: (F/n) is three years old.

-

It was a peaceful winter night at the Bokuto household. The house was clean, the chores were finished, the atmosphere was warm, and everyone was sleeping soundly. That was until (F/n) started squirming in her crib. She was whimpering and eventually woke up out of her sleep.

She blinked as her body felt hot but cold at the same time. She could feel that her pajamas were a bit wet. Her head hurt and her stomach also felt funny. Her nose felt plugged and it was like she couldn’t breathe. Naturally, the only solution… was to cry.

“WAAHH!”

Koutarou was the first one who woke up upon hearing (F/n)’s cry. He fell off his bed in a scramble to get up before running to (F/n)’s room. He slammed the door open and saw (F/n) in distress.

“Baby owl?!” he rushed over to her and picked her up, “What’s wrong?”

(F/n) continued to cry, which eventually woke up Ronin and Hiromi. Hiromi came dashing down the hallway and saw her babies in the room.

“What’s going on?” she asked Koutarou while walking up to the two.

“I don’t know,” he answered, “She keeps crying,”

Hiromi could see (F/n)’s red face and frowned before touching the back of her hand to (F/n)’s forehead, “Oh no, she’s hot,”

Ronin came walking into the room, “All right, what’s the commotion all about?”

“Honey, I think (F/n) has a fever,” Hiromi looked at her husband.

Ronin yawned and walked over to them before Koutarou transferred (F/n) to his arms, “Hey sweet girl,” Ronin greeted her daughter before pressing her forehead to his cheek, “Oh yeah, it’s definitely a fever,”

Ronin took (F/n), who was still crying, to the living room, “Honey, get me the thermometer and a cold washcloth,”

Hiromi nodded and went to the bathroom for the two items. Koutarou followed his father to the living room, not wanting to be away from (F/n). Ronin sat on the couch next to one of the arms. He placed a pillow next to the arm so that when he laid (F/n) down, her head could rest on the pillow. (F/n)’s sniffled and whimpered.

“I know sweet pea,” Ronin cooed, “Fevers are no fun,”

Koutarou watched from afar with blank eyes, not knowing if it was okay to come near. Ronin saw him and patted the spot next to him, “Come on Kou, I’m sure she wants you here,”

Koutarou wasted no time and plopped next to his dad, watching as (F/n) squirmed uncomfortably. Hiromi soon came with the cold washcloth and thermometer. She placed the cloth onto (F/n) forehead and gave the thermometer to Ronin. Ronin asked (F/n) to open her mouth and she did, and Ronin placed the thermometer under her tongue and asked (F/n) to close her mouth. They waited a couple of seconds before Ronin pulled the thermometer out and sighed.

“37 degrees Celsius,” he stated.

“That’s pretty high,” Hiromi said.

“Yeah, but not high enough to need medicine,” Ronin said, not wanting to hinder (F/n)’s natural immune defense from killing whatever virus she managed to catch.

“So no medicine?” Koutarou asked, confused.

Ronin nodded, “When a fever is around 37 degrees, it’s best to let it go and monitor it. Our bodies produce a fever because it’s naturally fighting off whatever sickness we have. The only time you’d want to drink medicine is if the fever gets to 39 to 40 degrees,”

Koutarou’s brain felt like it was about to explode from the explanation but he nodded anyway, not wanting to disappoint his dad at his lack of comprehension.

“She’s falling asleep,” Hiromi pointed out, noticing that (F/n) closed her eyes and her breaths were steady. She was still twitching from feeling uncomfortable, but it was obvious that the cold washcloth was soothing her.

“You two go back to sleep, I got it from here,” Ronin said as he yawned.

“Are you sure?” Hiromi questioned, feeling guilty if she were to sleep knowing that Ronin would stay up with (F/n).

Ronin nodded, “I’m off work for two days, I’ll be okay,”

Hiromi nodded, “Come on Koutarou, you have school tomorrow,”

“But…” Koutarou looked at (F/n), not wanting to leave.

Ronin smiled, “She’ll be okay Kou, you need the rest for volleyball practice,”

Koutarou’s hair dropped as his mood got worse. Hiromi sighed and carefully guided him back to his room, consolidating him. She was able to convince him to fall back asleep before she bid Ronin goodnight and went to sleep as well.

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It was now six in the morning when Koutarou and Hiromi got up. They both went to the living to see if Ronin and (F/n) were still there. Indeed, they were. (F/n) was awake and Ronin was rubbing her stomach. (F/n) was playing with her owl plushie that Ronin grabbed while he carried her in his arms in the middle of the night.

“How is she feeling?” Hiromi asked,w walking up to them.

“Her fever has gotten down, she’s at 36 degrees now,” Ronin said and watched as Hiromi felt (F/n)’s forehead.

“That’s good,” Hiromi smiled at (F/n), “How are you feeling?”

(F/n) blinked before turning away.

Ronin chuckled at this.

Koutarou walked up to them and used his finger to stroke (F/n)’s forehead, “Hey baby-owl,”

(F/n) moved her eyes to look at him.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

(F/n) blinked before she slowly nodded. In truth, her stomach still felt funny and her nose was still half plugged, and half runny, but she felt better than earlier.

Hiromi hummed, “So he gets an answer but not me,” she joked, “I see where I stand,”

Ronin rolled his eyes playfully, “You know she loves Kou more than all of us combined,”

Hiromi turned herself and went to the kitchen to start breakfast.

“You should get ready for school Koutarou,” Ronin told his son, “(F/n) will be okay,”

Koutarou nodded before he removed his finger from stroking (F/n)’s forehead and went to the bathroom to get ready for school. Ronin looked at (F/n) before humming, “Let’s clean you up a bit and change your clothes,”

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Throughout the day, Bokuto was not in the right headspace. He was so worried for (F/n) and seeing her so dejected and low energy made him feel dejected and low energy. Akaashi tried his best to consolidate him throughout practice but nothing really worked and he was stuck in emo mode throughout the entire day.

He sighed as he bid Akaashi goodnight, dropping him off at his street corner before turning to continue his walk home. Once he got to the house, he opened the door and stepped in.

“Kou?” Hiromi called out, “Is that you dear?”

“Yeah,” Koutarou replied, “I’m home,”
Hiromi recognized the dejected tone of her son, “Your sister is in her room,”

“How is she?” he asked.

“Why don’t you visit her?” Hiromi said, a certain tone underlining her voice.

Koutarou was confused but shrugged. He set his stuff down before waking through the living room and into the hallway. He saw that (F/n)’s door was creaked open. He gently walked to it and opened the door. (F/n) was sitting on the floor, her plushies scattered around her. She picked her head up from looking at one of them and smiled.

“Brother owl!” she exclaimed before she coughed. She stood up and walked over to him, hugging his knees.

Koutarou’s mood instantly shifted, “Hey baby-owl,” he picked her up, “Are you feeling okay?”

(F/n) smiled and sniffled, “Yeah,”

Koutarou could see that she was still sick, but her mood was a lot better than it was that morning.

“Play with me brother owl!” she said to him.

“I need to shower baby owl,” Koutarou told her, “I’m all dirty,”

(F/n) pouted, “Please?”

Koutarou, seeing her face, immediately agreed, “Of course, who am I to deny you?”

The two of them ended up sitting on the floor while (F/n) instructed Koutarou on how to play whatever game she was playing.

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In the middle of the night:

Koutarou woke up in the middle of the night groaning. His throat was sore, his body ached, his head pounded, he felt hot, and his nose was stuffed. He sighed, realizing he had (F/n)’s sickness. Instead of getting up though, he forced himself to go back to sleep, hoping that he’d be able to sleep it off.

-

A couple hours later he felt a cold feeling on his forehead. He also felt a source of warmth coming from his side. He slowly opened his eyes and moved his hand to his forehead.

‘A cold washcloth?’ he questioned before he turned his head to his side to find the answer to the source of warmth. His eyes made eye contact with (F/n)’s eyes.

“Morning brother owl,” (F/n) sleepily greeted. She was sitting up with her blanket and owl plushie in her lap.

“Baby… owl?” Koutarou’s voice was hoarse.

(F/n) nodded and moved to snuggle next to him.

“Figured since you both are sick, you two should rest together,” said Ronin, who was standing at the doorway of Koutarou’s room.

Koutarou hummed before he wrapped his arm around (F/n), bringing her close. Despite his fever, he felt cold, and (F/n) felt warm. (F/n), also still sick, felt cold and Koutarou felt warm. Together, they cuddled to feel warm and eventually, the two fell asleep.

Ronin watched as the both of them fell asleep and called Hiromi over to look. Hiromi couldn’t help but smile.

“They love each other a lot,” she said as she leaned into her husband.

Ronin draped an arm over her, “That they do,”

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hope y'all enjoyed <3