Ewon

Ewon felt like he'd barely shut his eyes all night. He'd finally gotten up around 5am and had gone for a run. The endorphins had only served to amp him up more. Today was the meeting with Jongup.

Jongup hadn't been able to fit him and Nichkhun in until Friday afternoon. He stood outside the Gnagnam Street law office waiting for Nichkhun to arrive. Nearly nine hours after his run, he felt full to bursting with adrenaline.

Staring up at the ceiling for most of the night had given him a chance to think about Doctor Perfect. Ewon hadn't really given the good doctor much of a chance to get to know him. It was Ewon's usual standard operating procedure. He didn't really let anyone get too close.

His near-instant friendships with Jun and Junho, all of these years later, still seemed miraculous to him. There had been this click between the three of them, as if they were three connecting pieces of a puzzle. They were closer than brothers. 

Ewon hadn't really spent a lot of time analyzing the whys and hows of their friendship. He was just happy to have those men in his life. Both Junho and Jun had sent him texts wishing him luck at this meeting. They'd both been surprisingly quiet about the idea of him and Nichkhun raising a child together.

He'd been surprised that the family meeting had gone as well as it had. Ewon had mentioned Wooyoung to his friends before, but it had come as a complete shock to them that he wanted to adopt the boy. Although, to be honest, though, it really shouldn't have. He'd always talked about wanting to be a dad someday.

Ewon knew in high school that he was going to go to college to become a teacher, but it wasn't until he'd student-taught in a first grade classroom that he realized elementary school was where he belonged. He liked teaching the building blocks of a child's education. Reading and basic arithmetic were skills people used every day.

The other plus had been his easy-going manner with kids. Ewon had never had that kind of manner with adults. Mostly he racked his brain for something intelligent to say and ended up looking like a complete idiot. It wasn't any wonder Nichkhun had the opinion of him that he did.

Kids were different. They wanted to talk about dinosaurs and superheroes or what they had for dinner last night. There were none of the challenges of needing to know about national events or politics. Most of Ewon's students were content to just have his ear. 

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I was in the ER." Nichkhun called out as he rushed toward Ewon.

Ewon knew situations like this were common with Nichkhun. Even when he wasn't in his office, he was usually on-call. More often than not, Nichkhun was usually late to any gathering "No worries. Is the kid okay?"

"You know I can't tell you that, Ewon." Nichkhun rolled his eyes.

"No, you can't tell me that G-Dragon had a compound fracture of something-or-other. What you can say, is, 'Yes, Ewon, the child will live.'"

"Yes, Ewon, the child will live." Nichkhun said robotically.

Already wanting to punch Doctor Perfect's lights out less than two minutes in, Ewon turned to head inside the office.

"Why do you care anyway?" Nichkhun was chasing close behind Ewon.

He stopped short, nearly losing his balance when Ewon ran into him from behind. The doctor's sure hands reached out to steady Ewon. Unbelievably, a lightning bolt of attraction slammed through his body.

Ewon shook his head. That feeling couldn't have been from Nichkhun grabbing him. It must be the left over adrenaline from his run this morning.

"Are you okay?" Nichkhun asked breathlessly. 

"Yeah, thanks for tripping me and then catching me." this day couldn't get any more weird.

Nichkhun snorted "You didn't answer my question."

Nichkhun asked him a question? Ewon couldn't think straight with Nichkhun's hands still on his body "Oh, why I care about your patient? You were treating a tiny human being. I guess the bigger question is why wouldn't I care if the child was okay? I would think the idea of co-parenting a child with a partner who has empathy for kids would be a desirable trait."

Speaking of desire, Ewon's desire for Nichkhun was ramping up. He stepped away from Nichkhun's magical hands just as Jongup came out of his office.

"It's nice to see you boys getting along. You can head on into the conference room." Jongup pointed down the hall "Can I get you water or coffee?"

"I'm good thanks." the last thing Ewon needed was coffee, he was jumpy enough as it was.

"We'll both have some water." Nichkhun said, grabbing Ewon's elbow and guiding him toward the conference room.

"That didn't last long. Don't make me have to sit between the two of you." Jongup rolled his eyes and headed toward the small kitchen across the hall. 

Ewon pulled his arm away from Nichkhun's hand and took a seat at the table. There were legal pads and pens set out on opposite sides of the table, presumably for him and Nichkhun to be able to take notes or jot down questions.

What Ewon needed to do was pull himself together. Jongup would be back in a few seconds and when the meeting got underway, they were going to be discussing the most important thing in Ewon's life: Wooyoung.

Nichkhun

For whatever reason, Nichkhun couldn't seem to take his eyes off Ewon. The teacher was sitting across the table from him and appeared to be doing a deep-breathing exercise. His eyes were closed and his head was bowed. Nichkhun had no doubt Ewon's hands were lying open and slack on his knees, forefingers and thumbs touching.

He hadn't meant to nearly trip Ewon. Reaching out to steady the man was simple common courtesy. What wasn't simple or common was the way Nichkhun's entire body reacted to touching Ewon. His had jerked in his pants and started to fill rapidly.

Thankfully he always wore his scrub pants one size bigger than he wore his jeans. It would have been beyond mortifying if Ewon had seen how excited a simple touch made him.

Nichkhun hadn't gotten laid in several months. Actually, now that he thought about it, the last time he'd been with another man was the week before he'd met Ewon. Nichkhun was sure that was purely coincidental.

"Here we go, guys." Jongup set bottles of water out for all three of them and took his seat at the head of the table "Before I start getting into the nitty-gritty of this thing, have the two of you come to any kind of decision about what we talked about yesterday?"

Ewon's light brown eyes met Nichkhun's black eyes for a second before turning to Jongup "We agree that it would be better for Wooyoung if he had two parents rather than just one."

Nichkhun nodded "I think it might be best for Wooyoung if Ewon and I were married." even saying the words out loud, it still didn't seem real. He'd tossed the idea around in his mind all night and when the sun had come up, he'd finally decided that getting married was the best plan.

Ewon stared at Nichkhun. His mouth was opening and closing but no words were coming out.

Nichkhun noticed Jongup had an amused grin on his face.

Turning back to Ewon, he could see the other man was still struggling to string two words together.

Nichkhun started to laugh "Shocking, huh? Who would've thought that you and I would get married before the actual couples in our circle."

Ewon nodded and then pinched his arm "Nope, not dreaming. Last night you thought I wasn't fit to be a father and now, not only do you want to co-parent Wooyoung with me, you want us to get married too? I don't mean to sound suspicious but you just did a complete turnaround."

Ewon had every right to be confused and a little suspicious "I've spent a lot of time thinking about single fathers. I saw the struggle Chansung went through with Jay and his ex-wife. He was an excellent father but it almost wasn't enough. Chansung came very close to losing custody of Jay."

"That was awful. If it wasn't for your testimony and Jongup's passion, it could have gone very differently."

"When Chansung and Junho sorted themselves out, their family came together. Both men are stronger fathers together. The same thing happened with Jun and Taecyeon. Gain was struggling so hard to find a family and Jun and Taecyeon were the glue who made it possible." Nichkhun had been there to witness both families come together. He wanted that in his life too.

He had no doubt that he and Ewon could create the same kind of atmosphere for Wooyoung. The only difference between him and Ewon and their other friends is that there wouldn't be that true love component to their family.

Ewon was nibbling on his bottom lip, seeming to be considering what Nichkhun was saying "I'm not opposed to the idea of getting married for Wooyoung's sake, but I'm not ready to run right out and do this tomorrow. I think we need to spend some time together to see how things go." 

Nichkhun could see insecurity creeping into Ewon's entire being. His light brown eyes were downcast and his posture was slumped "I think that's a good idea. Wooyoung knows us both, but in our professional capacities. He doesn't know us as potential parents."

Ewon sagged with what looked like relief.

"I'm impressed guys. I mean, I've got 911 on speed dial just in case the two of you came to blows. Instead of blows it looks like you're coming to vows. It's a hell of a change of attitude in a few short days."

"What do we do now?" Ewon was looking at Nichkhun, a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"We have two things we need to deal with, a marriage and the adoption. When it comes to getting married we're going to need to talk about your interest in a pre-nup and combining or not combining your assets. Not to mention where you're going to live and health insurance coverage." Jongup paused for a breath, his eyes going back and forth between the husbands-to-be "There's a lot of paperwork to get started on for the adoption. First step is to get a background check run on both of you. Is there anything I should know about in that department?"

Nichkhun shook his head "I've never even had a speeding ticket."

"Of course you haven't, Doctor Perfect." Ewon rolled his eyes "I, on the other hand have had several parking tickets and maybe a speeding ticket somewhere in the last few years." 

Nichkhun laughed. Usually he bristled when Ewon called him "Doctor Perfect" but not today. It seemed odd that a lawyer's office was the place where his life as a husband and father was going to start. It didn't matter to Nichkhun how his family came together. It only mattered that it did.