Ewon

"I thought you said we were going to the beach?" Ewon was looking out the passenger window of Nichkhun's truck. The sign in front of them read: 

Park River National Wildlife Refuge.

"We are going to the beach. It's at the end of the island. You'll see." Nichkhun grinned at Ewon.

"We're going to an island?" Wooyoung piped up from the backseat.

Ewon laughed "Don't you remember the big bridge we just crossed? That brought us onto Eurwangni Beach Island."

"I've never been on an island before."

Ewon hadn't either. To be honest, he'd only ever been to the beach a few times and those times were as an adult. He loved that Wooyoung would get to have this experience when he was still little.

There had been a hiccup or two at home this morning. Wooyoung had come downstairs for breakfast with his backpack. Ewon had thought maybe Wooyoung was under the impression he was going to school today, but that wasn't the case.

The backpack was Wooyoung's bug-out bag. It was packed with clean clothes, his favorite Pretty Pony and the princess blanket. Ewon had to excuse himself from the breakfast table to wrestle his emotions back under control in the bathroom.

He knew wooyoung was trying to cope with his world the best way he knew how. He wasn't trying to intentionally hurt Ewon's feelings. He just wanted to wrap the little boy up in his arms and not let him go until Wooyoung understood how much he was truly loved.

Nichkhun had assured him last night that Wooyoung wasn't going anywhere but his heart still broke for the little boy. When it was time to go shopping for the beach, Wooyoung had insisted the backpack come with them. Nichkhun had agreed easily.

It still rankled Ewon that Nichkhun seemed so at ease with the idea that Wooyoung could ask to leave their family, but he was trying to go along with it. His deep-breathing exercises were coming in handy, that was for sure.

"I still don't see the beach." Wooyoung grumped.

"Neither do I, buddy." Ewon turned around and grinned at Wooyoung in the back seat. Wooyoung didn't smile back. Ewon tried to put the thought out of his mind that every little rejection from Wooyoung felt like a tiny dagger to his heart.

"The island is a wildlife preserve. There are a lot of different types of birds that live here, like cardinals and eagles. There are also animals like deer and rabbits too."

"Eagles and deer?" Ewon felt his heart rate kick up. He didn't do so well with wild animals. Hell, he had a hard time when Rex, Jay's puppy, tried to hop up on his lap. 

"Yeah, but you don't have anything to worry about. I'll keep you safe." Nichkhun flashed Ewon a devastating smile.

If Ewon didn't feel like he was going to pee his pants over the idea of there being wildlife here, he would have wanted to climb over the center console into Nichkhun's lap. That kind of smile was dangerous, especially in light of their kiss last night.

He'd had to twice after he'd gone to bed and it still wasn't enough to get Nichkhun's kiss out of his head.

Ewon knew it was a ridiculous dream, but he wanted the kind of relationship his friends had with their husbands-to-be. It was obvious just from looking at Junho and Chansung that they were crazy about each other. Same went for Minjun and Taecyeon.

He could deal with the idea that he and Nichkhun got married for Wooyoung's sake, but he'd prefer a husband who was head over heels in love with him. A husband he could have with on a regular basis. Regular as in every day, several times a day.

"Okay, boys! Here we are!" Nichkhun announced as they pulled into a small parking lot. There was one spot left which Nichkhun pulled into.

"I still don't see the beach." Wooyoung sounded annoyed.

"It's a short walk to the beach. I promise you'll see it in a few minutes." Nichkhun hopped out of the truck. 

Ewon unbuckled himself and turned around to see Wooyoung still sitting in his booster seat with his seatbelt on. Frowning, he hopped out of the truck and went to the back door. The times he'd been in the car with Jay or Gain, both kids were unbuckled from their seatbelts the minute the car was shifted into park.

"Hey, buddy." Ewon reached across the little boy to unbuckle his belt "You know you can unbuckle yourself, right?"

Wooyoung shook his head "I don't want a spanking."

"There are no spankings in our house, Youngie." Nichkhun said brightly from behind them. He set a hand on Ewon's shoulder.

Ewon could feel the comfort and heat of Nichkhun's hand melting into his skin. He knew Nichkhun was trying to soothe him. The more he learned about Wooyoung's life, the worse the news got. Someone hit this child for unbuckling his seatbelt. Granted, that would be a very dangerous thing to do if the car was moving, but if it was parked, like now, it was a harmless thing for a child to do "We don't hit. We hug! Right, Khun?" Ewon reached for Wooyoung who came into his arms.

"That's right!" Nichkhun wrapped his arms around both of them "Now, who wants to go to the beach?"

"Me!" Wooyoung stuck his hand up in the air. 

"Me too!" Ewon repeated Wooyoung's gesture. It was the first time he'd seen a glimpse of the Wooyoung he'd known in school.

"Follow me, guys!" Nichkhun started off toward a sandy path, lined on either side with trees and dense scrub.

"Uh, Khun?" Ewon could feel his heart knocking against his ribs.

"Yes, Ewon?" Nichkhun turned around, his grin in full effect.

"What kind of animals live here?" he felt like such a wimp to be asking the question, but it was better to be prepared than to have something jump out at him.

"Umm, I'm not sure. I can hear birds singing. Maybe there would be a rabbit or a squirrel?"

Rabbits and squirrels had claws and teeth. The quicker they got to the beach the better.

"I like rabbits. Do you like rabbits, Khunnie?" Wooyoung skipped away from Ewon to run up to Nichkhun.

"I do like rabbits. They're cute and cuddly. What about you, Ewon? Do you like rabbits?"

Only in a stew... Ewon knew he couldn't say that "Oh, sure. They're super cute." Christ, please don't let Wooyoung ask for a rabbit. He knew Nichkhun would get him one and he knew damn well he would be the one cleaning out its cage.

"Wow! The beach!" Wooyoung shouted, jumping up and down "I see the beach. Come on, Ewon!" Wooyoung took off running and Nichkhun was a step behind.

Running through dry beach sand took some effort. In some places Ewon's feet sank in, while in other places he almost skidded. He caught up with Nichkhun just in time to see him grab Wooyoung's arm. Ewon watched while Nichkhun got down on Wooyoung's level and started speaking to him. Ewon couldn't hear the words, but he could see Wooyoung nodding. When Nichkhun was finished talking, he held his arms open for a hug.

Wooyoung looked a bit hesitant, but he gave in and hugged Nichkhun.

"Why don't we all hold hands?" Ewon suggested holding out a hand to Wooyoung.

"Okay." Wooyoung sounded a bit grumpy.

It was a small victory, but Ewon would take it. 

Nichkhun

Nichkhun was thrilled with how well the day was going. After his small talk with Wooyoung about not running ahead of him and Ewon, the afternoon had been perfect. 

They were sitting on a colorful princess beach blanket that Wooyoung had picked out at Wal-Mart to eat their lunch. Ewon had packed everyone's lunch while Nichkhun had been getting Wooyoung ready to go to the beach.

"Is everyone ready to go look for more treasures?" Ewon was cleaning up the rest of their lunch and packing it into the new cooler Nichkhun had bought.

"I am!" Nichkhun raised his hand.

"I want to find a crab. All we saw were dead ones." Woyoung folded his arms over his chest.

The beach had been a crab burial ground. Crab carapaces, small, medium and large, littered the beach. Wooyoung had wailed each time he found a crab shell.

"It's low tide, maybe we'll see some in the tide pools?" Ewon offered, pointing down the beach to some exposed rocks.

It sounded like a good plan to Nichkhun. If he'd known that Wooyoung liked crabs so much, he would have done some research about them last night instead of lying in bed thinking about Ewon and what it felt like to kiss him.

He followed behind Ewon and Wooyoung as they headed toward the closest rock. His eyes were glued to the gentle sway of Ewon's . What he'd do to that if given a chance.

"You coming?" Ewon hollered. 

"Almost in my pants..." Nichkhun muttered to himself and hurried to catch up.

"Oh, look at the pretty shells!" Ewon knelt down in the sand and picked up a pink spiral shell. He held it out to Wooyoung on the palm of his hand.

"Pink is my favorite color." Wooyoung picked up the shell and held it in his hand "It moved!"

Nichkhun peered over his shoulder and saw a tiny crab inside the shell "Do you know what this is, Youngie?"

Wooyoung shook his head. His eyes were on the tiny animal moving along the palm of his hand.

"It's a hermit crab."

"Really?"

"The pretty shell is the crab's home."

"If I were a crab I'd live in a pretty pink shell." Wooyoung looked up at Nichkhun "What color shell would you live in?"

"Hmm, maybe an orange shell." he reached out a hand to Ewon who was looking a little green at the idea of their son hold a tiny crab "What about you, Ewon? What color shell would you live in?" 

"I would pick a rainbow shell with purple glitter." Ewon waggled his eyebrows at Nichkhun.

"Show off!" Nichkhun turned to Wooyoung then "Youngie, don't grow up to be arrogant like Ewon, okay?"

"That's where he's wrong, Wooyoungie, when you grow up you should be as arrogant as me. Always demand the best. I did, and look, I married a Prince Charming." Ewon winked at Nichkhun playfully.

God, Nichkhun wanted to close the distance between the two of them and kiss Ewon's lips off.

"We have to leave the crab here, okay? This rock is his home." Ewon smiled brightly at the boy.

Nichkhun snorted. He could see the pleading look in Ewon's gorgeous light brown eyes. When had he started thinking Ewon's eyes were gorgeous? Probably about the same time that he had kissed Ewon. Ewon's eyes could be considered rare for asian countries and under the sun they looked even more lighter and brighter. He could get lost in those eyes...

"How can two boys get married?" Wooyoung asked as he set the little crab back into the tide pool.

Damn it. He and Ewon hadn't discussed what to say if Wooyoung asked that question. Maybe if they'd spent more time talking and less time kissing, they might have figured out an answer.

"Anyone can get married, so long as they love each other." Ewon answered confidently "We wanted to get married so that we can be a happy family together with you."

It wasn't the answer Nichkhun would have given on the fly like this, but he admired Ewon's straightforward answer.

Wooyoung nodded and went back to looking in the tide pool. 

"Phew." Ewon whispered "That went better than I thought. I know we didn't talk about what to tell him, but I figured, go with the truth, right?"

"Right." Nichkhun out at his lips. He could taste salt on them. It wouldn't take much to press a tiny kiss to Ewon's lips. He was so close. He was Ewon's husband he could kiss him anytime he wanted...

Ewon beat him to the punch. He pressed a kiss to the side of Nichkhun's mouth "Thank you for making this such an amazing day for us."

"You made it a pretty awesome day too, you know." it was true. Ewon had enjoyed every second of spending the day with Ewon. He'd been thoughtful and sweet with Wooyoung. All signs of his sarcastic comments and razor sharp wit were gone.

Nichkhun felt like he was meeting the real Jung Ewon for the first time.

"I found a treasure!" Wooyoung shouted.

Nichkhun and Ewon startled apart to look up at their excited son.

"You're not gonna believe it. It's the best treasure of the day."

"Did you find another crab?" Nichkhun wondered if he was going to need to get Wooyoung a hermit crab for his bedroom. He snorted thinking how out of place it would look with the pretty ponies and princesses. Even more hilarious was how Ewon would react to having a crab in the house.

"Nope! It's better than a crab. It's a heart." 

"You found a heart? Like an animal heart?" Ewon looked like he was going to throw up.

Wooyoung shook his head and opened his closed fist. Sitting in the palm of his hand was a perfect red piece of sea glass in the shape of a heart.

"Youngie, that's gorgeous." Ewon sounded relieved "It's the best treasure we've found all day.

Nichkhun had to disagree. He knew finding red sea glass was rare, but he thought the best treasure was the two men on the beach with him, his son and his husband.