Chapter Text
There was a new coffee mug in their cabinet.
It said World’s Okayest Husband in bold Comic Sans, and Nicholas used it every morning with the kind of smugness that suggested he’d stolen the Declaration of Independence, not just married the love of his life in an extremely tearful civil ceremony with matching lapel pins and Berry as their unwilling ring bearer.
“You bought that for yourself,” Euijoo reminded him, yawning into his tea.
Nicholas sipped proudly. “Still counts.”
Their apartment had somehow gotten smaller.
Not actually—but it felt that way. Probably because it now housed two humans, one judgy old cat, and two pint-sized balls of chaos named Cherry and Grape .
“Nicholas,” Euijoo said, “why is Grape in the fruit bowl again?”
Nicholas peeked over the couch, where he’d been untangling a string toy. “He’s thematic.”
“He’s chewing on a banana.”
“Bananas aren’t berries, Ju.”
“You’re not a biologist, Nichol.”
“That’s not the point—oh my god, Cherry, no—”
A blur of orange and white zipped across the room, launching itself onto the window with a tiny war cry.
“Cherry, stop trying to climb the curtains!”
“She gets it from your side of the family,” Euijoo called from the kitchen.
“My side of the family is dignified and majestic, thank you very much,” Nicholas yelled back, just as Grape leapt from the coffee table to his chest. “ACK—GRAPE. BETRAYAL.”
Euijoo snorted. “You’re the one who named them after fruit.”
“You agreed!”
“I was emotionally compromised! Berry had just sneezed in my lap!”
Said matriarch, now older and permanently unimpressed, blinked down at her chaotic progeny and then turned away like this was beneath her. Which, in fairness, it was.
Nicholas finally managed to corral Grape into his arms—tiny, wiggly, purring like a motorbike—and carried him over to the kitchen with an exaggerated pout. “Our children are menaces.”
Euijoo reached over to squish his cheeks between both hands. “You’re a menace.”
Nicholas grinned through squished lips. “You married me.”
“Still considering annulment.”
“No you’re not.”
Euijoo kissed him instead of answering. Nicholas kissed him back. Grape meowed indignantly between them.
This was what life had turned into, five years after Paris: laundry piles and burnt toast and color-coded chore lists, kitchen dancing and Netflix debates and mornings where someone always forgot to refill the coffee filter. It was loud and warm and full of fur and laughter and crumbs in the sheets.
It was them.
A ball of fur dashed in front of them and jumped into the bookshelf. A plant pot wobbled dangerously.
Nicholas bolted towards the living room. “Cherry, if you touch the monstera, you’re going to monster-a your way into a time-out!”
Euijoo, following close behind him, blinked. “That was... not your best.”
Nicholas flopped down in the sofa, defeated. “I’m tired. I’ve been playing defense against tiny toe gremlins all morning.”
Euijoo appeared beside him and gently poked his cheek. “Aw. Did the scary little kittens wear you out?”
Nicholas turned his face and bit his finger. Lightly.
“Hey!”
“Don’t sass the babysitter.”
Euijoo rolled his eyes and leaned down, looping his arms over Nicholas’s shoulders and nuzzling into his neck. “You’re still annoying.”
“You’re still obsessed with me.”
“Unfortunately.”
Nicholas reached up to pinch his cheeks, grinning like an idiot. “You’re cute when you lie.”
“I’m cute all the time,” Euijoo huffed, and Nicholas pulled him down onto the couch like a weighted blanket made of clinginess and hoodie warmth.
It was perfect.
Which is why, when the phone rang and Nicholas picked up he didn’t expect anything more serious than a telemarketer or a reminder about their dentist appointments.
He definitely didn’t expect to go quiet, eyes wide, mouth parted.
Euijoo straightened immediately. “What’s wrong?”
Nicholas didn’t speak. Just listened.
Then finally: “Yes. Yes, of course. We’d love to come in. Thank you. Really. Thank you so much.”
He hung up and looked at Euijoo with something glowing behind his eyes.
“That was the center,” he said softly.
Euijoo’s breath caught.
“They approved our file. We're eligible. We could be matched soon.”
There was a beat of silence. Cherry bolted across the hallway with Berry in pursuit. Somewhere, something ceramic fell over.
And then Euijoo was in Nicholas’s arms, eyes wet with disbelief and joy and twenty-six other tangled things he couldn’t even name.
They sat there, tangled, hearts pounding like they were twenty again and terrified.
Nicholas kissed the side of his head. “We're gonna be parents.”
Cherry jumped off the table.
Grape sneezed.
Berry rolled her eyes.
And Nicholas pulled Euijoo in like a gravity he’d never stopped falling toward, pressing their foreheads together and whispering, “Ready for one more fruit in the basket?”
Euijoo laughed—tearfully, hopelessly—and whispered back, “Only if we get to name them something normal this time.”
Nicholas kissed him. “No promises.”