Ewon

Three days later, Ewon was still barely speaking to his husband. He made a good show of things in front of Wooyoung, but when the little boy was in bed, Ewon dropped the pretense.

He knew he was being borderline childish, but he was still hurting bad. His head knew he needed to forgive Nichkhun and get on with the business of building their marriage, but his heart was still aching.

Nichkhun had made some badly worded points, but Ewon couldn't deny his husband had been right about his tendency to cry at the drop of a hat and his need to put his past behind him.

They'd just finished putting Wooyoung to bed and instead of going downstairs to hang out with Nichkhun, Ewon had gone into his room and closed the door. He'd thought long and hard about what he wanted to say to Nichkhun and now was the time to say it. This fight had gone on long enough.

Opening his bedroom door, Ewon walked across the hall to look in on Wooyoung. The little boy was sound asleep. His princess blanket was tangled in his legs while he held two Pretty Pony stuffed animals in his arms.

Grams had bought him a purple one to go with the teal one she'd bought him earlier. Wooyoung had been thrilled with his day out with Grams and was excited to do it again. Only this time, he wanted his Daddies to come too.

It had broken Ewon's heart to hear Wooyoung say that and with him and Nichkhun still not talking to each other. He didn't want it to come to having to beg off of a trip like that so Wooyoung could have a good time with Nichkhun.

Ewon walked down the stairs. He could hear the television on low. He'd guess Nichkhun was marathoning Scandal on Netflix again "Hey."

Nichkhun sat up and turned around to face Ewon "Hi."

Ewon had made it a point of not really looking at his husband over the last few days. It was a shock to see just how awful he looked. Dark circles ringed his eyes and Nichkhun hadn't shaved in days, by the look of it "Feel like talking?"

"Sure." Nichkhun patted the empty space on the sectional.

Ewon took a seat and tried to organize his thoughts. He'd known exactly what he'd wanted to say when he started down the stairs, now seeing the state Nichkhun was in had him all turned around "I'm sorry, Nichkhun. I've been trying to figure things out with us and I didn't think it would take so long. I was hurting and didn't know how to come to you."

"That's my fault." Nichkhun said easily.

"Thank you for saying that, but it's my fault too. Doctor Phil said..." 

", don't even tell me what he says." Nichkhun rolled his eyes. A smile danced over his lips.

Ewon snorted "He is pretty ridiculous, but he was saying not to let things fester."

"I'd agree with that."

"I love Wooyoung more than anything on this earth. I didn't realize how much until you threatened to take him away from me."

"I didn't mean it."

"I know, but you saying it showed me that I'm willing to fight for him no matter what. I needed to know that about myself. When I saw him in bed screaming after that nightmare, it reminded me of something similar in my life. I'd had a bad dream about spiders in my bed and my foster mother burst into the room and started hitting me because I'd woken her and my foster father up. The memory was so vivid, like it had just happened, you know?"

Nichkhun nodded "That's how PTSD works. Did you ever get any treatment for it?"

"No. I had some therapy when I was older and I learned breathing exercises. I was doing them when Wooyoung was screaming, but I was being selfish. I should have taken care of myself after Wooyoung was settled." 

"No, Ewon. I was wrong when I accused you of that. You were reliving a traumatic event and I was being such an ."

Ewon reached out a tentative hand to his husband. Nichkhun linked their hands together "I think I've got a better handle on it now. It won't happen again."

"If it does, I promise to react differently."

"Okay, thanks."

"I didn't mean what I said about it being my bed, Ewon, or that I didn't want you in it again. I was just..."

This was an interesting turn of events "You were just what? I spilled my guts so now it's your turn."

"I was scared which made me angry and I lashed out at you. It won't happen again. I promise."

Nichkhun's promise was nice, but Ewon knew well enough that they were going to argue again at some point "What were you scared of?"

Nichkhun squeezed their joined hands "Of my feelings for you."

"You have feelings for me?" Ewon was shocked. Nichkhun had made it pretty clear the other day how he'd felt. 

"Well, yeah. When we were, you know..."

"Use your words, Doctor Khun." Ewon knew what he'd been about to say, but he wanted Nichkhun to squirm a bit.

"When we were making love, I just felt so close to you. Like maybe you were the man I was supposed to be spending my life with and not just some guy I married so I could adopt a child."

Ewon hadn't been expecting that "I felt the same way."

"You don't have to say that just because I did."

"It's true. That's why what happened the next day was such a blow to me. It felt like we were so close and then when we got up and you weren't speaking to me, you just felt so far away."

"I'm not a perfect man, Ewon. I try so hard to be, but I'm not."

"You don't have to be perfect. You just have to be you."

Nichkhun nodded "Giving you the silent treatment was rude and childish. That won't happen again."

Ewon burst out laughing "Of course it will. We're human. We're gonna fight and I can guarantee that you're not going to want to talk to me again at some point. Possibly in the very near future."

Nichkhun laughed with him "Probably so, but where do w

e go from here?"

That was a good question. Ewon didn't want to beat a dead horse. Nichkhun had apologized and he accepted it "I've been wondering the same thing myself. I was thinking the zoo."

"The zoo?" Nichkhun raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yeah, why don't we organize a trip with the others and Narsha and Kwanghee. You only have a few days left of vacation to be with us and we need to do family things." Ewon wanted to put this fight behind them and move on to better times.

"I'd like that, but what about us?" Nichkhun asked shyly.

Ewon smiled, pulling Nichkhun's hand to his lips.  He pressed a kiss against Nichkhun's warm skin "Why don't we finish watching this episode of Scandal and you can tell me again who these people are and why I should care about them."

"Deal." Nichkhun ducked his head as if he were trying to get his emotions back under control "Thanks for giving me another chance, Ewon."

"You're my husband. I'll always give you another chance." God help him, Ewon meant it.

Nichkhun

Ewon was hopeless when it came to Scandal. He seemed more interested in the villains than in Olivia Pope and her white hat-wearing gladiators. Nichkhu would give him credit though, he'd managed to sit through two episodes with him.

Nichkhun was about to press play on the next episode when Ewon yawned loudly "I think it's past someone's bedtime."

Ewon frowned "Wooyoung got in bed hours ago."

Nichkhun stood up and offered his hand down to his husband "I meant you. Come on, let's go to bed."

Ewon took his hand and let Nichkhun pull him back to his feet "Maybe I am a little tired."

"Ditto. I haven't slept well lately." Nichkhun cringed. He didn't want Ewon to feel guilty that part of the reason he wasn't sleeping well was because of their fight.

"Now that the bad times are behind us, I think we'll both sleep like the dead tonight."

Nichkhun could only hope Ewon was right on the money about that. He headed up the stairs with Ewon's quiet footsteps behind him. When he reached the top of the stairs, he went to Wooyoung's door and peeked inside the room. 

Wooyoung was wrapped up in his princess blanket. Only the top of his head was visible. Nichkhun could see one of his stuffed ponies had fallen to the floor. He crept into the room and grabbed the animal, setting it next to Wooyoung.

"That was so sweet." Ewon whispered.

"I didn't want him to wake up later and miss it." Nichkhun shut his door halfway and turned to Ewon.

"I'll call Jun and Junho in the morning to see when they're free to go to the zoo. Goodnight, Khun."

Nichkhun didn't want their night to end here. He reached out for Ewon's hand and tugged him toward his bedroom.

"Khun?"

"I thought maybe we could spend a little more time together." Nichkhun could feel his heart pounding in his chest. What he wanted to tell Ewon was that he wanted to cuddle for a while and try to get their physical connection re-established.

Ewon nodded and let Nichkhun lead him into his room. He took off his pants and t-shirt and climbed into bed in his boxers. He noticed Ewon was following his lead. He couldn't help but stare as his husband picked up his clothes from the floor and folded them neatly before setting them on the easy chair near the window. 

Once Ewon was in bed, Nichkhun rolled onto his side to study Ewon's profile. His husband really had a boyish charm but still looked like a mature man. It surprised him that no one had snapped him up before now. From what Ewon had said before, he tended to date s "What kind of man really gets your attention?"

Ewon snorted and rolled over so that he and Nichkhun were facing each other "That sounds like a first date kind of question."

"We never really had a first date." Nichkhun would have to rectify that. He'd bet Narsha and Kwanghee would love to take Wooyoung for the night. He'd call and ask Narsha in the morning.

"No, we didn't." Ewon grinned at his husband "The kind of guy that I pay attention to is usually the most confident man in the room, like you."

Nichkhun hadn't expected to be the kind of man that Ewon would have chosen on his own.

"You know that my self-confidence isn't the greatest, so I tend to look for guys who have it in abundance. Of course there's a danger in wanting the most confident man in the room. They tend to be obnoxious s who think I'm beneath them. Not you of course." Ewon hurried to amend.

"Yes, me." Nichkhun reached out to set a hand on Ewon's hip "I've been known to be an obnoxious from time to time." 

"I never would have guessed." Ewon laughed "The reason I never really made much of an effort to get to know you is that you were my type to a T."

"I'm confused. If I was your type why did you back off?" Nichkhun had to admit Ewon certainly marched to the beat of his own drummer.

"Everyone was so excited to have you in our circle of friends. Then, once Taec and Jun were back together, you were cemented in our group because you're Taecyeon's best friend and all. I was afraid that if I made a move or if we got together and it didn't work out..."

"That it would be uncomfortable for us to be in a group together." Nichkhun finished, reading Ewon's mind.

"Exactly." Ewon sighed "It wasn't that I wasn't interested. I just didn't want to screw up my relationships with my friends."

Nichkhun could easily see that about Ewon. His husband was a little shy around new people and thanks to his upbringing didn't really seem to have a lot of friends "I get that."

"What kind of men do you usually go for?" Ewon reached his hand out to Nichkhun, resting it on the slope of the doctor's side.

Nichkhun smirked in the semi-darkness, not sure if Ewon could see his smile "The guy who's marching to the beat of his own drum." 

Ewon snorted "Come on, I'm serious."

"So am I." Nichkhun leaned forward to brush his lips over Ewon's forehead "I was never into the jocks with their bulging muscles or popular guys with their sky-high opinion of themselves. I was more into the quiet, studious type. Sound like anyone you know?"

"Sure does." Ewon laughed "I guess we never know what circumstances lead us to our forever, do we?"

Nichkhun felt that tickle around his heart again. Ewon had hit the nail on the head. He reached out to pull his husband into his arms. Ewon came willingly, settling his head on Nichkhun's shoulder. He figured Ewon was talking about them being together forever for Wooyoung's sake, but couldn't help hoping that Ewon was talking about him.