Chapter Text
The Immigration interview, in Evan’s opinion, went surprisingly well. There were a few hiccups and blind spots, like when Roger asked about proof of their joint finances, when they were planning to have children and how much their mortgage was.
But apart from that, Evan knew the answer to everything else. He provided proof of his employment at the LAFD, talked about their most recent date to the watch shooting stars in the Hollywood Hills, even provided ample amounts of pictures of them together, his favourite one being from their wedding day.
Maddie had taken it when neither of them were paying attention. Tommy had his arm resting on the back of the booth behind Evan, watching him with a look on his face that was so soft and so fond. Whereas Evan was clearly in the middle of rambling about something that he couldn’t quite remember.
So he was feeling confident that they made a good impression. Roger advised it could take a number of weeks for them to hear an update about the Visa, so now all they had to do was sit and wait.
And waiting was easy, because waiting meant getting to spend more time with Tommy.
A few days after the interview, Evan suggested they’d go on a hike on their day off together. He showed up to Tommy’s house in a loose fitted t-shirt and a pair of short-shorts. He definitely didn’t dress to start something, but the way that Tommy’s eyes grew dark when he looked him up and down, he was very glad with his outfit choice.
After their “warm up”, they showered, redressed and were about to walk out of the door when Evan’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out and saw that it was his sister calling.
“Hey Mads!” He answered after the third ring as he climbed into Tommy’s truck.
“Hey, sorry to call but are you free right now?” Maddie asked, her voice sounding flustered and on edge.
“I’m with Tommy about to head out on a hike. Why, i-is everything okay?” Evan furrowed his brow and he turned to face Tommy. The other man finished buckling himself in but then paused. Evan put his phone on speaker so Tommy could also hear what his sister had to say.
“I was going to ask if you could take Jee for the afternoon. Chimney is still not feeling great and I’m at work in an hour. I asked Mrs Lee but she’s playing bingo with her knitting club today.”
“We can take her.” Tommy answered immediately before Evan had the chance to open his mouth. The younger man looked at him stunned for a moment. Tommy and Jee have only met a handful of times since they got married. They got on well enough but he didn’t expect him to be so willing to offer up babysitting services so soon.
“A-are you sure? I don’t want to put you both out of your way.” Maddie asked cautiously.
“Maddie, we are family. It’s no problem at all.” Tommy replied with a smile. Evan’s heart fluttered in his chest, he reached forward and took a hold of Tommy’s hand with his free one, squeezing lightly and mouthing thank you as he did.
“We are in the car now, we can be there in twenty?” Evan said, his voice slightly louder than necessary.
“She will be ready. Thank you, really.” They said their goodbyes to Maddie before Evan hung up and slid his phone into the pocket of his shorts. He then pulled up the GPS in Tommy’s truck, entered Maddie's address and waited for Tommy to start driving.
“Shit!” Tommy yelped as he banged his head on the roof of his car for the third time in a row.
“Little ears Tommy!” Maddie yelled from where she stood at the front of the house.
“Sorry! This car seat is just - ugh!” Tommy huffed as he wiggled the car seat around in the back of his truck.
“You are doing great, babe!” Evan yelled encouragingly from beside Maddie, throwing a thumbs up in Tommy’s direction. Jee was sitting on the step beside them, backpack strapped to her back as she waited patiently.
“So you never told me, how was the interview with immigration?” Maddie asked as she knocked shoulder with her brother, trying to get his attention away from Tommy’s ass.
“I’m more confident about it than I was last week. It could be a while until we hear back so we just have to sit around and see.” He turned his head and looked down at his sister who was smiling warmly up at him. Maddie shifted slightly and reached to give him a reassuring squeeze on his bicep.
“Okay! All done.” Tommy cheered triumphantly. He shuffled his way out of the truck and jogged down the driveway toward the front of the house. “Your chariot awaits Princess Jee-Yun.”
He bowed at the hip slightly and extended his hand forward, waiting for Jee to take it. And she did with a giggle, her hand only big enough to wrap around the tips of Tommy’s fingers. They walked together, hand in hand, throwing a wave over their shoulders over to Maddie.
“You better hope it gets approved because you need to keep that man and have his babies.” Maddie muttered as she waved back.
“Shut you.” Evan murmured back, not fighting the smile that was breaking out on his face.
They decided that the best and easiest way to keep Jee entertained for the afternoon would be a trip to the park. The closest between Evan's loft and the Han household was definitely for older kids and nowhere near suitable enough for a three year old. But that didn't stop Jee from exploring and dragging Tommy along with her. Evan watched from the sidelines, watched as Tommy pushed her on the swings, laugh together on the merry-go-around, go down the looping slide; Jee sat on Tommy's lap with his arm securing wrapped around her.
It was adorable to watch, Evan couldn't help himself from snapping a few pictures of the pair whenever they were not paying attention. His mind wondered to a thought of them in a few years, with their own kid doing the exact same thing. It was made his heart swell and flutter in his chest. It seems crazy to think this so soon in their relationship, but everything about their relationship has been unconventional from the beginning. So he allowed himself to indulge in the what if's for a moment or two.
After a few hours at the park, the sky began to darken and the air became chilled: signally a change in the weather. The three of them climbed back into Tommy's truck and headed over to the loft for some food and a nap; mainly for the toddler, but for Evan as well.
Tommy parked his truck in the guest spot next to Evan's jeep. He got out of the car and circled around to Evan's door, opening it with a smile.
"You don't have to do that every single time we get out of the car, you know?" Evan said with a laugh as he unbuckled himself and climbed out. He stepped forward and kissed Tommy softly before moving towards the back seat to help Jee.
"It's my duty as your husband to make sure that you get out of the car safely." Tommy replied as he followed, pinching Evan at his hips before going towards the trunk of the car to get out the groceries they picked up on the way home. Once the good's were secured — the groceries in Tommy's arms and Jee-Yun in Evans; they headed up to the loft.
Tommy bee-lined towards the kitchen the second they stepped inside and started getting to work with lunch, leaving Jee and Evan heading to the living room to set up jigsaws and a few toys on the floor.
"Uncle Buck?" Jee said quietly after a few minutes in concerted silence. She was laid on the floor, flat on her tummy as she slotted puzzle pieces together.
"Yes, Princess?"
"I like Tommy." She announced boldly.
"You do? I'm super glad because I like him too." Evan replied with a smile. He reached over and brushed the whips of hair from her eyes before turning his attention back to his own puzzle.
"I call him Uncle Tommy?" Evan paused, his eyes shifting back towards his niece. She had moved now so she was sat crossed legged and staring up at him. There was a look of innocence and hope in her eyes that made Evan want to melt into a puddle right there.
"Is that what you want to call him?" Jee nodded her head at Evan, a wide, bright smile breaking out on her face. "Well, I'm sure he would love that."
As soon as they settled into the flow of completing their puzzles, Tommy was calling them for lunch. Evan picked up Jee from the floor and hoisted her over his shoulder, carrying her to the table with a trail of squeals. They sat and ate the delicious food that Tommy had prepare. It was only simple sandwiches — PB&J for Jee and turkey clubs for the adults — with an array of veggies sticks, fruits cut up into different shapes and chips. Jee took control of the conversation, telling the pair about her favourite butterflies, about Bluey and how her Daddy likes to pretend to be Bluey Daddy.
Once they had finished eating and Evan had cleaned and packed up the leftovers, they headed back into the living and settled down on the couch to watch a movie. Though it didn't take long for both Jee and Evan to fall asleep; Evan with his head resting on Tommy's shoulder and Jee sprawled across Evan's lap.
20 minutes into the movie, Tommy's phone began to vibrate next to him on the arm. His eyes flickered over to the screen and saw that it was his brother calling.
“Hey man! Is everything okay?” Tommy asked quietly as he answered. He gently untangled himself for Evan and dipped out of the living room and towards the kitchen but kept his voice low in an effort to not wake either of them.
“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” Dylan scoffed. Tommy rolled his eyes at his brother. He wedged his phone in between his shoulder and his cheek as he quietly began to unload the dishwasher .
“Because you never call me out of the blue.”
“Did you ever tell mom and dad that you got married?” Dylan and his wife are the only family that Tommy told about the marriage. Not that he was ashamed, he just knew that they would be the only ones that actually cared.
“No…” Tommy answered cautiously.
“Ah. Well they know.”
“What?! How?”
“They are here in Washington to see the baby and Mya accidentally let it slip over lunch. She’s been so sleep deprived lately that she didn’t even realise she said it until it was too late. She feels awful about it.” Dylan scrambled to explaining. Tommy knew his brother well enough and knew that he would be frantically pacing around out of guilt.
“Okay, that - okay I can work with that.” Tommy replied with a sign. There was silence from the other line and Tommy could feel the nervous energy that his brother was radiating from the other side of the country.
“What are you not telling me?" Tommy probed carefully.
“They, er….they want to come to LA.”
Shit.