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“Do you recall the time I told you of my… rather irresponsible and adrenaline filled youth?”
Harry peers over his newspaper - focusing on his partner seated in front of him.
“Is this in preparation for the Kim Lore Exam?” He questions in return, “I do - but you get wicked flustered whenever it’s brought up.”
Kim remains silent for a beat, stirring at his now luke-warm coffee.
A morning after a rather uneventful night, playing the part of two domesticated old men who lived happily together - and were not, in fact, two cops dealing with severe psychological issues that their faction’s resources couldn’t even dream of assisting.
Kim refused to give in and allow Harrier Du Bois permission to move into his flat full time - but at this point, it was reality, despite Harry still paying rent for his own place, a rather hefty commute away. But it did allow them their time to be alone and reflect when necessary. It had hardly been a year since THE HANGED MAN case - Kim was fully employed with the 41st - there was no natural discussion of … relationship. They enjoyed each other’s company - Kim felt good while he was with Harry - a level of fun and excitement he hadn’t experienced in years.
And truthfully, Harry was well on his way to recovery - sober for six months, even when taking into consideration the handful of relapses he’d experienced in the time since.
In a lot of ways, they were good for each other - not without the expected trials of being two traumatized men in their forties - but it allowed them both the leeway to make mistakes and mend when it was necessary.
A handful of slip ups, hand holdings, and kisses - had led them to being together for a total of six months. Kim would be in denial if he tried saying it wasn’t anything serious.
He snaps himself back to the conversation he was attempting to have - despite how much he didn’t necessarily want to. It would prevent Harry from can-opening - and as much as Kim liked to think he kept his cool even when he was ready to throw up - he knew he was no match for Harrier Du Bois.
“You aren’t being tested - if it hadn’t been for recent development - I wouldn’t even bother bringing it up.”
“...Are you dying?” Harry’s expression drops, lip quivering beneath his mutton-chops.
“No.” Kim pinches the bridge of his nose. “Simply my past coming back - to say hello.”
Taking a deep breath, Kim slides Harry an envelope - addressed to Lieutenant Kitsuragi himself - signed from a name he did not recognize - though it appeared to be Seolite in origin.
“Eui - a sibling? Ex-lover? Weren’t you orphaned? Aren’t you homo-sexual?”
He isn’t sure what he expected - Kim can feel his ears heating up as he tries to broach the topic in a way that isn’t completely mortifying.
“When I was 19 - an ex of mine and I had… slipped up.” Kim explains, “Not a proud moment.”
“...Slipped up? Kim - not sure if I understand your hip homo-sexual lingo here. I’m new to the scene, remember?” That and he was still amnesiac, though his memories had been coming in every so often. “You’re good with words, baby - use ‘em.”
“Okay - how about - when I was 19, I had gotten knocked up - this was before I had started my transition to male - my partner, at the time, refused to compensate for my situation - and I was unable to… terminate the pregnancy.”
Kim’s words fly out of his mouth at a speed that Harry can hardly comprehend - though he’s keeping quiet and listening incredibly intently.
“I could not afford an abortion - I was an orphan, barely legal - no job, no real home - I was… for lack of a better word, both literally and figuratively, fucked.”
Kim stares into Harry’s hazel eyes - seeing the cogs in his brain rotate until they eventually light up - if Harry functioned like a toaster, he would ding and sprout an exclamation-point shaped piece of toast.
“You have a kid!”
There it was.
“Well - not quite.” Kim explains, “Along with being unable to afford termination - I could not even dream of affording a real life child under my care. Nor did I necessarily want to - after she was born, I linked with a nice couple - two men in their late 30s who had wanted children - we signed the adoption paperwork - and she was sent with them.”
Harry sits back in his chair, hands folded on the desk as if he were a school child listening to a lecture.
“I kept my contact info readily available for her - in case they had any questions - or if she had any desire to speak with me once she was of legal age. She’d be about twenty four by now.”
“Man - you’ve been keeping this to yourself for that long?” Harry frowns, “I can only imagine what that’s like - thank you for sharing-”
Kim holds his hand up - indicating that he is not finished.
“Just so you and I are clear, Harry - I harbor no ill feelings towards the child. I did what I did because I wanted her to have a kind life - it’s difficult for me to admit, but I do… care for her well-being quite a lot. I’ve kept a photo in my journal since before I had even signed off on her parents' proof of adoption - they kept in contact with me for the first handful of years, but I never pressed them for any updates - so for a while, I hadn’t heard from them - not until recently.”
“No worries - Kim - I know you aren’t fond of juveniles.” Harry pauses. And smiles. “Though - you’ve never treated any unwell, during our time together.”
He holds back a smile, staring at Harry’s very serious demeanor - as if this was material for the Kim Studies Exam. He’s kind of happy that Harry is a special kind of dumbass - it makes for these conversations to be a lot less difficult than Kim ever anticipates.
No, Kim didn’t love being around children - but he didn’t think they deserved miserable lives either. He did his best to ensure that his pregnancy was low-risk and viable to term - but his greatest act of love was ensuring that that baby was given an opportunity that he never had.
He didn’t sit and wait for her to reach out to him, because as far as he was concerned, if she wasn’t trying to contact him - it meant she was happy. That was all he could ask for.
“I do have a question.” Harry chimes back in, “You keep saying she - you had a girl?”
“Yes - I provided her with the name Eui, and her parents decided to keep it… which is nice.”
“And one more - you are confiding in me with this… because… you -”
“Because we have been exchanging letters for a few months - she would like to have lunch with me next week.”
“AWESOME.”
Kim can’t help but smile - his dumbass boyfriend always takes things in stride - though he was in absolutely no rush to introduce this poor girl to him.
A month? Maybe two.
Eui was a fantastic writer - her letters were detailed, and her font was neat. She decorated the letters with cute stationary, colorful pens - little doodles of animals, and stars. The letters were professional at first - but after the third, or fourth they’ve exchanged - she appeared to loosen up quite a bit. She pokes fun at Kim’s own disgusting handwriting - though he really was trying - and expresses that she’s excited to finally have lunch with him.
Kim keeps the letters to himself, though he allows Harry to sit and stare - attempting to read Kim’s expression as he goes through the letter. If Harry is especially lucky, Kim might share a detail or two.
The key details Kim notes - the inciting incident for them making contact - was Eui’s recent tragedy.
She was twenty one - finishing up university when she had gotten the call.
A motor accident - stealing her fathers from the world - much too soon. It was a difficult time for her - struggling with the process of grief. She had her longtime girlfriend to fall back on - luckily - but the thought lingered in her mind. If she reached out to this Kim Kitsuragi - would he respond? Her parents always encouraged her to reach out - they nearly insisted at times, especially when she struggled with her identity - that the person who gifted Eui to her parents would be more than happy to speak with her on whatever it was she wanted.
But Eui was afraid.
Even after Kim had stopped pressing the pair for updates on their daughter - they still thought so fondly of him.
Eui concludes in her letter;
“ My parents always encouraged me to seek out whatever it was I wanted to learn. I held off on contacting you because I was afraid I would get answers I didn’t want to hear. After losing them - I understood that waiting wouldn’t provide me with what I needed. Time is short - and I’ve wasted enough of it. ”
Kim hadn’t specified to Eui about his past - figured it would be better to discuss in person - but he sits, staring at the letter, grateful that Eui had opened up to him.
His anxieties were eased - he was more than ready to greet his daughter face to face.
When the day comes - Harry tags along, but is sure to linger far enough away that he isn’t a distraction. It’s moral support - the kind that Kim truly does appreciate - subtle enough for Kim’s own comfort. Harry provides him with a natural calm that probably didn’t make sense to anybody but the two of them.
Though, to Kim - it honestly didn’t make much sense either.
The side of town they wind up on is one of the ones run by a rather strong homo-sexual community. Kim had frequented here a lot as a twenty something year old - and still dropped by from time to time, though by forty four years of age - figured he was a little too old to hang around the queer youth. He liked his men… older and more experienced, anyhow (even though Harrier was… one year older?)
But Eui expressed interest in it - she lived within Revachol as well - her parents lived a modest life but couldn’t fathom living elsewhere. It was a strange reality in which Kim and Eui had never really crossed paths since he had given her up.
Eui had practically been within the community since she was born, after all. The transgender man who brought her into the world - her gay fathers - knowing she liked girls since grade school. It was only natural that she inquired about the scene itself.
When she enters the cafe - Kim knows immediately.
She does resemble him - a lot more than he’d anticipated. They share a nose - her eyes, the same shape and color - her black hair is straight, and bluntly cut right below her jawline. Her features are much softer, however - as expected of a twenty four year old - and she looks well. She looks incredibly well.
When her eyes land on Kim - a gentle smile spreads across her face - though she stands still. Her structure is so small, and she seems so thin and frail - quite like a fawn attempting to cross the road to its parent.
Kim stands from his chair, catching Harry grasping onto his coffee cup from the corner of his eyes - mouth agape as he rapidly looks between the two.
“Kitsuragi? Kim?”
Her accent reminds Kim of Harry’s - quite a lot.
“Eui…” He speaks, breathless - hand held out to hers, noticing that, like his, her fingers are also gloves. “Please - lets -“
She eagerly crosses the room to accept his shake, squeezing his hand tightly - as if this contact features everything she needs to know about him.
Oh - she’s gorgeous. The circumstances, of course, are sad - unfortunate - but looking into her deep brown eyes, seeing how taken care of she’s been for the past two decades… he knows he did the right thing.
They hit it off - almost immediately. Kim learns that she recently graduated from University with a degree in botany. She lived with her girlfriend, whom she’s been with for four years now - and they had a cat together. Her fathers supported her up until the accident - providing her with funds and shelter for as much as they could. Put her through school, ensured that she had the best education possible - they always kept Kim’s information available to her - always transparent - that they were just grateful he gave them the greatest gift of their lives.
She doesn’t ask about her other biological parent - though Kim takes it upon himself to explain that it simply wouldn’t have worked out. He, much like Kim, was also half-Seolite - and they had … fooled around while Kim was still figuring himself out. For a while - he didn’t identify with any gender - including his time during pregnancy - but after Eui’s birth, he found that he felt much more comfortable identifying as male.
Kim even learns that Cherie, Eui’s partner, is also transgender - excitedly gushing about their years together.
“And you - do you have a partner?”
Eui asks Kim, while her eyes focus on a terribly emotional man sitting a few tables away.
“Mm - I do. We have been together for about six months… but I intend to keep him. As insane as that may make me.”
She smiles at that, knowing very well who that partner is.
“I’d love to meet him sometime in the future.”
They chat some more - about the RCM - what Kim did as a twenty something year old hooligan. Eui talks about her time in school - and how her girlfriend was an aspiring DJ - and that maybe she could send Kim a mixtape sometime.
The chat goes… so well, it’s almost overwhelming.
Eui makes it clear that she’d like to have more Kim in her life - if he’d let her.
And Kim - pinching the bridge of his nose - nods his head.
Grateful that she doesn’t hate him after all of these years - and terrified that he wouldn’t meet her standards … yet so, so hopeful that the two of them could form a bond - almost ignorant to the fact that the bond was already there and that things could only get better for the two of them.
When it’s time to leave - the two stand up - and though Eui holds her hand out once more, Kim makes the move to place his gloved hand on her cheek - eyes glistening.
“I am so proud to see you doing so well.”
Eui breaks down, pulling Kim into her arms, holding him tight as she sobs - and though he’d never admit it… he thinks he’s crying as well.
Harry is also sobbing - judging by the terrible nose blowing a few feet away.
Harry whips up dinner for the two a few nights after the initial meeting.
After Martinaise , he learned that he actually did enjoy cooking. And he was pretty good at it. Perhaps the drugs and alcohol hindered that ability - but once he was sobered up, it seemed to come back to him in the form of muscle memory.
Kim didn’t like cooking that much - it was a necessity - but he avoided it whenever he could.
“I was thinking - perhaps within the next month…” Kim starts, “We could have Eui over - with Cherie - you wouldn’t mind cooking for us, would you, Harry?”
Harry’s eyes light up, placing their meal in the center of Kim’s sad little dining table.
“You’d let me?”
“Well, if she and I are going to have a relationship - it’s only right that she gets to meet my partner.”
Harry takes his seat across from Kim, enthusiastically taking his hand into his own.
“I think I’ve wanted to be a father for some time.”
Kim gives a playful scoff - rolling his eyes.
“I’d hardly call us parents, Harry.” Kim says, “But I would like to have a good relationship with Eui. Maybe in the future she might call me her father - but I’m in no rush to get there. Comfort between the two of us is my priority.”
“Oh! Yes - absolutely! I didn’t mean to -“
“I know you didn’t, mon coeur . This is new for me too - I had no idea of how compatible we’d be. I’m struggling with how to proceed.”
Harry squeezes Kim’s hand - smiling at him with his crooked jaw.
“You’re Kim Kitsuragi - I know you’ll figure it out, baby.”
They resume their meal in peace - the television airing some soap opera re-runs from the living area of Kim’s flat.
“You know - I still… don’t remember much from before meeting you.” Harry says, mouth full of food before finally swallowing to continue. “The memories do feel less painful though - I’d like to talk about it with you, I think.”
“Perhaps while we clean up?”
“Oh! Yes - it’s nothing bad… at least, not for us. But you and Eui… it’s just been making me think. Kim - not to be superstitious… but I think you and I - Eui coming into your life… it’s destiny.”
Kim’s lips twitch into a smile - and his shoulders shudder as he holds in a laugh.
“Finally able to live out your domestic fantasy with another man, and his twenty something year old child?”
“Well - I mean, you said while we clean.”
“We’re finished now anyway, no? Go on.”
Kim collects their dishes while Harry sits still, twiddling his hands in the distinct manner that Kim knows the ex will be brought up.
Harry was healing, and he was happy with Kim - but he still had so much more to work through. Kim did not love hearing about Dora, knowing she brought out parts of Harry that were hard to manage … and being so distraught that she would leave him in such a state without ensuring his health and safety … but he never knew her. He didn’t know Harry since before Martinaise. All he knew was what Harry had told him, and perhaps his vision was a bit clouded by how badly he wanted Harry to get better, and how he knew he’d do everything in his power to keep his partner from getting hurt ever again.
Kim doesn’t think that Harry would leave everything behind to be with her again. Maybe she wasn’t all that bad - yet the damage had been done.
“When I had cleaned out my apartment - I found more letters from… her.”
Harry doesn’t say her name.
“I mean - this was months ago, but I still think about it at times. Paperwork - a death certificate. I think she and I had been trying to have children for some time.”
“Mm.”
“That dream I had - before we apprehended the murder suspect - she informed me that she wound up terminating one of them.”
Harry quickly grasps at the table, eyes wide.
“Not that that’s a problem! Women’s right to choose! - Er - people’s right!” He says so quickly that Kim can’t help but laugh. “But it’s one of the things I remember - after trying for so long, and succeeding - she got so sick of me that she just…”
Kim frowns, dishes placed in the sink - returning to Harry’s side.
“All three times - we had daughters.” Harry nods. “And - I think… what I’m getting at here…”
Harry doesn’t seem so distraught - not as distraught as Kim would’ve anticipated, anyway.
“She wasn’t the one I was supposed to be with - no matter what. It was you - and now we’re together - and…”
“Well. If you’d like a daughter - I suggest you behave when you finally meet her.”
Kim gives a sly smile, and Harry bares his teeth in return.
“I will be the best father candidate I can possibly be, Kim - I promise!”
It’s endearing - how Harry is still treating this like a newly acquired baby. As if Eui isn’t a fully autonomous adult living within the same society. Kim doesn’t want to ruin it for him - he thinks Harry will be on his best behavior.
It’s later in the night, once the two are settled for bed - that Harry’s thought project finally completes - staring wide eyed at Kim as he dressed for bed.
Harry plays with the duvet of Kim’s bedding, fighting off sleep because he knows that if he gives in, he’s going to have the most insane dreams.
“You think we could, Kim?”
“We could what?”
“Yunno - make a baby.”
Kim’s raises his brow so high it gives him a headache.
“No.”
“Aw - I mean - we got the equipment for it, though.”
“Harry.” Kim sighs, “I am forty four years old - that ship has sailed. Even if I wanted to, it would not happen.”
“Oh - right.”
“Besides - I think once was enough for me. I birthed a real human child - and immediately decided I was better off identifying as I am now. I think that says plenty of how my experience went.”
“You must admit - we’d have cute offspring together.”
“Go to sleep, imbécile rêveur .”
“Yes, dear.”
Kim fully admits that the Harry he fell in love with is not the same Harry that their shared precinct has dealt with for years. But - at the same time, the Harry he loves has to come from somewhere .
There is no doubt in his mind that the RCM is a contributing factor to his fragile mental state - seeing the everyday horrors of Revachol is not an easy sight to swallow. That, with the added stress of his relationship falling apart - the woman who encouraged his joining of the force in the first place - leaving him to struggle alone - the pieces fit too snuggly together. Kim understood that there was no perfect universe in which someone would be equipped to handle illness at such an intense level, but perhaps Kim was giving Harry too much credit.
But even so - learning of Harry’s Gym-Teacher past - seeing how devoted he was to getting those teenagers to open up and forfeit their harmful lifestyles.
It makes Kim think that - through it all - the Harry he knows is the same Harry that he’s always been.
If this wasn’t true; he couldn’t imagine why on earth Harry would have such an eccentric taste in fashion. If this wasn’t true - why on earth was Harry wandering around in a frilly apron, frantically trying to piece together a meal.
It had been two months since Kim and Eui had begun building a relationship. Their outings still weren’t terribly frequent; but on days off - they’d go for a run, or have lunch together.
They discussed this a lot - Eui visiting Kim and Harry for dinner - taking Cherie with her. Eui had even thrown out the idea of having them over - meet the cat and all, but it felt… improper. To have his daughter do even more for the two of them - when she had been carrying most of the burden of them meeting in the first place. Dinner was the least he could do - especially given Harry’s immaculate cooking.
His heart absolutely drops when he hears a knock at the door - though he’d been preparing for this for hours - he was still nervous about having Eui over.
Harry’s hand reaches for his shoulder - giving it a firm squeeze.
“If it helps any - I’m not nervous.” He says, pressing a kiss into Kim’s temple. “She likes you - just keep doing what you’ve been doing, babe.”
“Easy for you to say - you can talk anybody into liking you.”
“If I couldn’t - we wouldn’t be here now, would we?”
Kim smiles, turning away from his boyfriend - reaching for the door.
“Just - try not to scare them?”
The door opens and Kim is met by his adult daughter, behind her, lingers a tall-ish woman, with curly dyed blue hair, messily tucked into a beanie. The young woman holds a paper bag - a pleasant aroma emitting from the opening - and smiles wide at the men before her - a cute gap between her teeth as she brightens the room.
“Eui… and you must be Cherie -“
Before Kim can reach his hand out to her, he’s caught off guard by Harry - throwing his arms wide, aimed at Eui.
“DAUGHTER!”
She isn’t given a chance to back away before being taken into Harry’s embrace, squeezed tight against him.
“Harrier - right?”
“Harry! Did I not just tell you to behave?!”
Cherie stands still in the hallway, trying her best to hold in her laughter.
Whenever Kim gets lucky for a consecutive amount of time - he starts to get kind of paranoid. Like, oh - all of this good is happening, what is going to explode in my face within the next few hours?
Dinner with his partner and Eui does not give him this sensation - and what’s even weirder, is that he doesn’t realize that the feeling did not hit even once during their table conversation. They exchanged stories about one another, Harry asked a lot of questions, though patience must be hereditary, because Eui never expresses discomfort with them - and Cherie laughs off any of the really uncomfortable ones.
They talk about hobbies and interests - Cherie goes into detail about her career in music, but specifies that she went to school for social work of all things. She tries to keep the political talk to a minimum, until Harry starts going on about Mazovian rhetoric and the two of them explode - in a good way - as they agree on most terms, and Harry is interested in getting Cherie’s opinion - since she has a degree, and he’s positive that he can learn from her because of that.
Rather than get involved in the discussion, because Kim can only handle so much, he takes this opportunity for his daily smoke, and heads out to the balcony - with Eui following closely behind.
It’d be a good bonding experience for Harry and Cherie.
“Do you smoke?”
Eui shakes her head at Kim, waving off his offer as he extends the pack to her. He kept his pack by his keys - if only to remember his one a day. It would’ve been rude to not at least give Eui the option - though he’s a little relieved she turns him down.
“Mm good. It’s a bad habit.”
She laughs with him, leaning over the railing as the cold air starts to sweep in from nightfall. This point in Spring was never particularly freezing, but out of the sun - it could be downright bitter. The evening had gone by so quickly - Kim didn’t want it to be over. He looks back through the ajar window - seeing Harry excitedly go on and on about whatever it was he talked about.
“I’m sorry about Harrier’s… eccentricities. He means well.”
“You don’t have to apologize. He’s really charming.” She offers him a smile, “I can tell that you two are a good match. He reminds me a little of Cherie, honestly - how unafraid they are to speak whatever it is their brain’s are cooking up.”
“That’s certainly one way to put it.”
His face is illuminated by the cigarette - smirking as he takes a drag.
Eui takes a deep breath, her head lulling to the side. Her stare is focused towards the streetlights, and the people walking about - walking their dogs, headed home from work, trying to get home before it becomes too cold to stay out. Kim takes notice, unable to tear his gaze away from his daughter. She’s deep in thought, though Kim wasn’t as good at reading people - he couldn’t open her the way he wanted to. Patience was a good asset to have. Patience was an incredibly frustrating barrier to cross.
“I like this.” Eui starts, “Having a relationship with you. It’s been… very healing.”
Perhaps he should give her a little more credit; considering she was clearly pretty good at reading him.
“I know - circumstance is what lead you to make the decisions that you made.” She turns her gaze to him, a genuine melancholy in her eyes - matching that of his own. “And - for the record, I don’t resent you for any of that. How could I?”
“I’d assume very easily… but perhaps that’s just the self loathing.”
“If I put myself in your shoes… I think I would’ve done the exact same thing.” She shifts a little bit closer to Kim, turning her gaze away. “And the fact that you answered my messages. You’ve been making an effort to talk with me… I think that says a lot. My parents were very adamant about their positive opinion of you. I can see that they were right.”
“I wanted to do something kind. My life hadn’t been easy. The least I could do for you, Eui, was give you a better life than I had. That wouldn’t have been possible if you remained under my care. There was too much uncertainty. I had no idea of who I wanted to be. It wouldn’t have been fair.”
“I know.”
“Do you know why I gave you your name?”
Eui bites at her lip, shaking her head.
“You told me a few times in your letters that … despite your Seolite heritage, that you didn’t identify very strongly with it. I won’t lie to you - the name had me go through several identity crisis’es.” She laughs, “But my dads didn’t change it for a good reason, I assumed.”
“Eui was my mother’s name.”
Kim takes another drag of his cigarette.
“She died when I was… two?” He ponders, “But - though I was spared - she did everything she could to keep me safe. Shielded me from a terrible fate. I always thought very fondly of her - wishing that I could have known her for everything she had to offer me.”
Eui is silent, a gentle frown forms on her face.
“I gave you her name because - she kept me safe. I figured, if I had given you her name - it’d be passed down. She would protect you as she protected me.”
A beat holds for a moment, neither speaking - or breathing.
“Forgive me for the crisis of identity - I must’ve passed that down to you - but I made it out alright. From what I’ve seen - you have too.”
“Thank you.” She leans into Kim fully, her head placed gently upon his shoulder. “You did good. I promise.”
Kim hesitates, unfamiliar with this type of affection - but he finds himself stomping out his cigarette, wrapping his arm around his daughter, tugging her in as close as their bodies would let them.
“A selfish request?”
Kim makes a noise of acknowledgement, petting his hand through Eui’s hair.
“Can I call you dad? Would you mind?”
He pulls away for just a moment, her eyes searching his - for something - an answer.
“Only if you don’t mind being Kim Kitsuragi’s daughter.” His smile is faint, but ever apparent. “And everything that entails.”
“Gathering on Holidays. Random phone calls. Asking you over for dinner?”
“All of that, and more.”
“Then - it’s a deal. Dad.”
Kim squeezes Eui even tighter in his arms, smushing his face into her hair, hiding the tears forming at the corners of his eyes.
He had a daughter - he had a family. After so long - he wasn’t alone anymore.
“I can’t believe you kept these.”
Harry stares at the photos spread out on the table - entertaining himself, and their guests. Eui fondly traces her thumb against one of the polaroids, biting back tears - just as shocked as her potential step-father.
There are several laid out - portraying a 19 year old Kim in an era of absolute punk-rock. His hair is up in a ponytail, though his undercut is still present. His hand rests atop a fairly prominent pregnancy bump, hidden to the best of his ability in an oversized orange hoodie. He sticks his tongue out at the camera - surely caught off guard by whoever it was taking the picture.
One photo in particular stands out to Eui - unable to take her eyes off of it.
A freshly newborn baby sits in Kim’s arms - his attention is fully on the bundle, wrapped in several blankets. He’s in a hospital gown, obviously very tired - but the fondness in his expression speaks everything to them.
“Your parents weren’t able to retrieve you for a few days after your birth. So - I did what I could.” He leans over Eui’s shoulder, seeing how enamored she is with the sight. “Not too shabby, I think.”
“Not at all.” She looks up at him, a gentle smile on her face. “You look like a natural.”
“Believe me - I was terrified. My roommate, at the time, was with me for just about all of it - I couldn’t have done it without her.” He hums, “But I could tell you that story for next time.”
Harry’s ears perk up - eyes bright as he looks at his boyfriend.
“We have twenty four years of stories that we need to catch up on.” Kim says, in response to Harry’s expression. “That is if you don’t mind cooking for us indefinitely.”
“As long as there is a next time - I would cook for you until the end of time!”
Kim and Eui exchange glances, before breaking out into nearly identical smiles.
“Twenty four years of stories to catch up on, and the rest of our lives to make more.”