Ewon

Ewon was so nervous for his first date with Nichkhun that the butterflies in his stomach had butterflies. No matter how much Ewon tried to calm himself down, his heart was still pounding like he'd run a marathon.

Thankfully, Wooyoung's behavior had improved during the week when Nichkhun had left to go to work. He'd thrown a full-on tantrum on Tuesday morning, but had been back to his old self by lunchtime. Each of the rest of the days had gotten better. By Friday, Wooyoung wasn't crying and had managed a small wave as Nichkhun headed out the door.

The last big hurdle for their date was getting Wooyoung settled in at Narsha's house. She and Kwanghee thought it would be easier on Wooyoung if they had everyone over for lunch. Wooyoung had been so happy playing with Gain and Jay that he didn't seem to mind that both of them were leaving.

Narsha's plan for the night was to make chocolate-chip cookies and the kids were all going to camp out in the living room with their pets and toys. Wooyoung hadn't shed a tear when he and Nichkhun left, which Ewon considered a victory in itself. 

Once they'd gotten home, Ewon had taken his shower first, using the time Nichkhun took in the bathroom to pick out something to wear.

It crossed Ewon's mind that their whole relationship had gone in reverse. Yes, they'd been friends first, but then they'd gotten married, got custody of Wooyoung, had and only now were going on a first date. How many people could say they'd married the love of their life without ever having gone on a date with him?

It was becoming more apparent as the days passed that Nichkhun really was the love of Ewon's life. He was thrilled and terrified in equal measure. What would happen to him if Nichkhun didn't return his feelings?

They were in this marriage to co-parent Wooyoung, plain and simple. There was no room for feelings for each other and even less room for hurt feelings if Nichkhun didn't love him too.

Ewon thought back to their fight a few weeks ago. Something Narsha had said to him after he explained the situation to her had stuck with him. Narsha said, 'Sometimes the challenges you face help you figure out what kind of person you are.'.

He wanted to be the kind of man who could roll with the punches without breaking down and getting emotional. Ewon couldn't control Nichkhun's feelings for him. What he could control was how this first date went between them. 

"Hey, handsome." Nichkhun leaned against the frame to Ewon's bedroom door. Ewon still hadn't moved all of his clothes into Nichkhun's walk-in closet. Nichkhun was wearing a pair of creased black dress pants and a pale blue dress shirt. He was rolling up the cuffs while he stared at Ewon.

"You're looking pretty handsome yourself." Ewon had settled on a pair of khaki pants and a light shirt. Nichkhun looked absolutely stunning. Ewon wanted to forego dinner in favor of stripping his husband and spending the night in bed.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Almost." Ewon reached into his back pocket for his phone "Come here. We've gotta take a selfie."

"Seriously?"

"You know how important it is that we document our time together." Ewon went to Nichkhun and slipped an arm around him before smiling at his phone's camera "Say cheese!"

"Gorgonzola!" Nichkhun shouted, smiling big for the camera.

"Kiss me!"

Nichkhun did as Ewon asked, but pulled away at the sound of the iPhone shutter clicking "Seriously, you're going to document everything?" 

"We've gotta make memories, babe."

Nichkhun raised an eyebrow and turned to go "Why do our memories have to be the digital kind?"

"We have to be able to show the judge that we're a real couple. I even asked the others to send me all of the pictures they have of us since we met."

Nichkhun nodded and held the front door open for Ewon.

As they walked toward Nichkhun's truck, Ewon could see there was something on Nichkhun's mind. It didn't stop him from holding the door open for Ewon. He settled himself inside while Nichkhun walked over to the driver's side.

"What's on your mind?" Ewon asked when they were on their way.

Nichkhun sighed "We're going on our first date. I don't want to fight with you."

That surprised Ewon "I promise we won't fight. Tell me what's on your mind and we'll figure it out together."

"I think you're worried about the wrong thing when it comes to the adoption."

"What do you think we should be worried about?" 

Nichkhun pulled his eyes away from the road to stare at his husband "Who are you and what have you done with my Ewon?"

He liked the way Nichkhun called him "his Ewon". "I can admit I don't have all the answers here. Plus, you have a perspective being a doctor that I don't have. What do you think is a bigger issue than convincing the judge we're the right family for Wooyoung?"

"I think that is the issue, but think Wooyoung being transgender is a bigger issue than the two of us being able to document our relationship in pictures."

Ewon frowned "I thought we'd agreed that we were going to table the discussion about Wooyoung's gender dysphoria until the adoption was final."

"Wooyoung will be seven in August. That's the age of reason in Seoul. Part of the adoption proceedings will involve the judge speaking to Wooyoung, rather than a judge hearing testimony from Wooyoung's Guardian ad Litem."

Ewon had no idea that would happen "Khun, I didn't know."

"I hadn't really thought about it either, until Jongup mentioned it the other night. You know how Wooyoung is, within five minutes of meeting new people he's telling them he was born in the wrong body and that he wants to give his back to God."

It was true. Wooyoung was one of the most gregarious kids he knew. He came out as transgender to grocery clerks, the person who took his Happy Meal order at McDonald's and random strangers "You're right. What do we do?"

Nichkhun pulled the truck into the restaurant parking lot "We enjoy ourselves on this date like any other parents who have a night away from their child. We can talk about this tomorrow over lunch."

"Why not breakfast?"

"I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to be sleeping through breakfast."

Ewon burst out laughing. He sure as hell hoped that was the case. He wanted to jump Nichkhun's bones right now, but he could wait until they'd had a good meal first.

Nichkhun leaned over the center console and kissed his husband "Stay put."

Ewon couldn't keep the smile off his face while Nichkhun ran around to his side of the truck to open his door.

He would tone things down with needing to take a picture every few minutes, but that wasn't going to stop him from spending the night getting to know things about his husband that he didn't already know.

Nichkhun

Nichkhun still couldn't believe that plain old comfort food cost this much money. He wasn't cheap by any stretch of the word but the idea of paying over twenty thousand won for mac and cheese boggled his mind.

All that mattered was how happy Ewon looked to be here with him. Stone and Sage was a new restaurant, having only opened a few weeks ago. Whenever a new place opened in Seoul, there was always a crush of people wanting to try it out.

He'd always been more the type to wait until all the hype died down before trying a new place. All of the reviews on Wingspoon were favorable with no one else seeming to mind how expensive the food was, so he figured what the hell.

The restaurant was a converted mill building with all of the bare brick still visible. Nichkhun loved the high vaulted ceilings and tall windows.

Ewon was looking around like a kid in a candy store. Nichkhun was thrilled that he'd agreed to take his husband here just based on the happy look on Ewon's face.

For all of the hits and misses they'd had in their friendship and now marriage, Nichkhun had to admit his husband was a good man. He loved Wooyoung with his whole heart and took such good care of the little boy. He deserved special nights out like this.

It was a blessing Ewon would be off from school during the same time as Wooyoung, so they didn't have to worry about daycare. Thanks to his hours, 

Ewon had also taken on all of the housekeeping and cooking duties too. Nichkhun felt bad that Ewon was doing everything while all he did was go to work, but this dinner was a nice way to thank him.

"Wow, this place is gorgeous." Ewon was turning around in his seat to see the rest of the place better.

"I'm so glad you're enjoying being here."

Ewon reached across the table for Nichkhun's hand "I'm enjoying being here because I'm with you. This is just a brick building filled with food. It's being with you that makes it special."

Nichkhun could feel a blush blooming over his cheeks. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to Ewon's words. He felt the same way that this place was almost magical because Ewon was with him. He wasn't quite sure how Ewon would take those words, so he kept his mouth shut.

When he looked back up at Ewon, he could see his husband was lost in the menu. Ewon had been studying it at length all week online and had changed his mind at least once a day about what he was going to order.

"What's the change you want to be in the world?" Ewon asked after the waitress took their order.

Nichkhun nearly choked on his sip of beer "That's awfully deep for a first date. Don't you think?" 

Ewon grinned "Narsha got me this book and that was one of the questions in it."

"What are you talking about?" Nichkhun had a feeling there wasn't enough beer in the restaurant to deal with the answer to this question or for him to formulate an answer to Ewon's original question.

"I had a talk with Narsha before we got married. I told her I was nervous about marrying a man I knew almost nothing about. The morning of our wedding, she gave me '1001 Questions To Ask Before You Get Married' book."

Nichkhun barked out a harsh laugh. He tried to pull himself together when he saw the unsure look in Ewon's eyes "I wasn't laughing at you. I was just thanking God that you didn't try to ask them all before we said 'I do.'"

It had never occurred to Nichkhun that Ewon might be unsure about marrying him because they didn't really know each other very well. He guessed it was kind of naive of him to think he could just marry Ewon for Wooyoung's sake and not get to know him.

"I thought asking some of the questions would be a good way for us to get to know each other better." Ewon shrugged and grabbed for his beer.

"If you want to know the truth, I think we know more about each other than you think we do."

Ewon raised a skeptical eyebrow "What do you mean?" 

"I know that you like your coffee light and sweet and that you're a morning person. You hate mushrooms, but will eat them on a pizza because I like them. You love reading romance novels before bed and you talk in your sleep."

There were so many little things he'd learned about his husband just by paying attention "You prefer salt to pepper and mustard over ketchup. When you read to Wooyoung each character has a different voice. We don't need a book to get to know each other. All we have to do is pay attention."

Ewon seemed to be considering what Nichkhun was telling him "What if we disagree about big things?"

"What kind of big things are you talking about?"

"Democrat or Republican? Pro-life or pro-choice? Captain America or Superman?" Ewon threw his hands in the air.

"Is that last one really a big thing?" Nichkhun nibbled his bottom lip to keep from laughing. He loved that Ewon was always equal parts serious and funny.

Ewon snorted "Yes. I don't know if I can stay married to a man who likes the Justice League over the Avengers."

Knowing these things obviously meant a lot to Ewon "Democrat, pro-choice and Captain America, but I say that based on Chris Evans' abs alone. Can you live with that?" Nichkhun had no idea what he'd do if Ewon said no.

"Yes, we agree on all of those answers, especially Chris Evans' abs." Ewon fanned his face with his hand.

Nichkhun reached a hand out to Ewon "We always agree where it counts, Ewon. When it comes to Wooyoung we're both willing to stand up for what we believe, but in the end, I know that if we're on opposite sides of an issue, we'll come to an agreement for his sake."

Ewon nodded.

"If you think a judge will be more apt to let us adopt Wooyoung because we know each other's favorite color, then mine is sea foam green."

"Mine is the black color of your eyes."

"You're just saying that because you're hoping to get lucky tonight."

"I get lucky every night. I get to fall asleep in your arms."

Nichkhun was stunned by Ewon's admission. He would never have admitted it first, but he felt the same way "I'm the lucky one, Ewon. You're an amazing father to our son and you take such good care of our home and me." 

Ewon gave their joined hands a squeeze "I love doing those things, Khun."

And I love you... Nichkhun wanted to say the words, but they got stuck halfway from his brain to his lips.