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"So?" Marius pips up first after seeing Vyn arrive last in the usual headquarters. While Vyn takes his seat, Marius eggs on Mira, who's simply sitting comfortably in her spot while articulating her thoughts. "What's the meeting gonna be about, Rosa?" Marius teases, addressing Mira with her codename like how they do during missions.
Mira playfully rolls her eyes at that, seemingly used to Marius’ antics by now. "It's nothing too important that it's related to our former team name, NXX. Rather, it's just something personal." Mira says, looking at the others.
Instantly after Mira says this, all four men look at her with curiosity in their eyes. Vyn raises an eyebrow, Luke perks up, Artem straightens his posture, and Marius' eyes widen slightly. "Oh? What is it then, Miss?" Marius asks first before any of the men can, coaxing Mira to explain further.
Vyn tilts his head as he looks at Mira with interest. "Is such personal news involving us?" Vyn asks, even though he likely already knows the answer to that. Mira nods.
It's Luke's turn to look surprised as he whips his head towards Mira, not sure on how to feel knowing something personal concerns them. Before Luke can assume anything tragic (like he usually does), Mira quickly lifts a hand in Luke's direction, pointedly looking at him. A look that may as well say ‘ don’t assume the worst scenario ’.
"I haven't said anything, Luke."
Luke relaxes but still stiffly looks at Mira. "Sorry," He apologizes.
"Well, continue, Mira," Artem says, gesturing for Mira to speak her mind after the others gave their initial reactions. Mira nods and takes a deep breath, ready to string her thoughts into sentences.
"I was... wondering. If," Mira swallows down a phantom lump in her throat. "If we could talk about kids?" Mira squeaks the last part, her head already hanging low, her eyes darting at the singular ring on her finger.
The ring is embedded with a red ruby rose jewel, crafted beautifully. The golden band shines, and though Mira can't see it right now, she can feel a phantom sense of the engraved words at the inner parts of the ring.
It's the ring that all of the men in NXX crafted together, a sign of their collective union with Mira.
Mira has no courage to lift her head when her request is met with silence. It's not like she is desperate for kids after signing a union poly civil marriage with the other men years after the NXX is finally disposed of for good—she just... sometimes thinks about it and wants to know what the others think about it, now that they are all married and X03A is disposed of.
Suddenly, Marius speaks up, "Eh? Does Missy want kids that badly?" He teases, causing Mira to look up, cheeks flushed red. "I- I'm just asking!" She pauses, then adds, "Shut up, Marius!"
While Marius relishes Mira's cute reaction, Vyn chuckles. "I suppose it will be quite an honor to discuss children, should you wish to have one of your own," He says, his gentle voice miraculously calming the embarrassment boiling inside Mira. Mira looks away, afraid of getting too into those meaningful golden eyes.
From the side, Luke smiles, taking Mira's hand and squeezing it reassuringly. "I mean, if starting a family with us is what you want, I'm in for it, Watson!" Mira thanks the gods up there for Luke's enthusiasm, and Mira nods.
Artem also nods, "Yes. It'll be nice to talk about this matter together." He adjusts his tie as he speaks, "After all, now that we have our lives back together, I believe we don't have any more to worry about."
Mira looks at Artem, then at everyone else with a smile. Then she nods, "Okay!"
"If, hypothetically, we have all of the financial stability and resources to raise kids, I want to know what you guys want." Mira pauses, thinking of her next set of words, before sheepishly looking up at the men. "The thing is, I'm not sure if my body can handle carrying the kids of four different men."
Ah.
Vyn is the first to understand what Mira means, given that he is a doctor. Well, even if he's a psychiatrist, he still knows what Mira is trying to hint at medically. "Do not worry, Mira. I personally am not willing to have biological children." Vyn then smiles. "I am more interested in being a plant father or a pet father, after all."
Marius snickers at the side, a bit amused at the idea, "Furdad and plantdad? What, you're gonna name your flowers 'Maria', 'Leonora’, and 'Theresa'?"
"Those names are taken by my peony, white lily, and dandelion.” Vyn answers with a deadpan tone, throwing Marius off guard. “Wait, what?”
Mira watches as Marius’ tease backfires on an unaffected Vyn, not seemingly expecting Vyn to actually reply the way he did, and for a second, she feels like Vyn would be a great furdad and plantdad. Mira imagines what Vyn would look like, naming his plants and pets and talking to them like they were his children. Marius, meanwhile, thinks for a bit and then looks up to meet Vyn’s gaze. “Ooookay. What about ‘Maria Clara’?” Marius asks, his teasing tone already replaced with curiosity.
Vyn grins. “Do you mean my potted Amaryllis?”
Marius’ jaw drops, unable to believe that Vyn actually names his plants. Meanwhile, Artem is more interested in the origins of the names. “Marius, aren’t those names of various characters from Nation P’s fictional works?” Artem asks, looking at Marius with a curious look. Marius composes himself with a smirk, “So you know about it? Yeah, they’re from Nation P’s works.”
Of course, Artem would know about it. He is a big movie geek and quite interested in literature. While he focuses more on sci-fi novels, historical fiction tends to pique his interest every now and then. Hearing names that resemble the characters of Nation P’s works immediately grabbed Artem’s attention the moment he connected the dots. Artem merely replies to Marius with a small, “I see.”
Mira smiles, shaking her head at this amusing conversation. She looks back at Vyn again, who’s quietly sipping tea. “Vyn, would you like me to be a mom to your future pets and plants?”
Setting the tea cup down, Vyn nods and says, “That would be lovely, my rose.”
Seeing as Vyn has decided, Mira nods and then turns to Marius, saying, “And since I doubt you could wait, I’m gonna ask you next, Marius.”
Marius pouts, crossing his arms as he gazes away. “Missy, come on. I’m not that impatient.”
“Uhuh...” Mira teases, and then smiles, “So, what about you, Marius? Any thoughts on children?”
Marius hums in thought before shaking his head. “Well, I don’t really want to have kids.”
Mira is taken aback by this response, but it’s Luke who inquires first, “Why so? You seem like the type to want kids.” Hearing Luke’s impression of him gets Marius turning heads in his direction, playing the role of someone who’s (playfully) offended. “Luke, babe, I may enjoy sexy times, but the idea of having kids just to subject them to nepotism because of my last name is kinda not it, don’t you think?”
Everyone in the group immediately understands why Marius doesn’t want to have kids.
Being a von Hagen means constantly being targeted by the sharp eyes of the media. If Marius has kids, the chances of his kids being subjected to the world of media and harsh critics at a young age are not healthy just because they hold the von Hagen name.
“I just,” Marius turns to Mira with a soft expression. Something tells Mira that Marius feels like he’s protecting something that does not exist. “I don’t want any of my future kids to go through what Giann and I went through just because they’re von Hagens.”
Mira smiles and nods in understanding, reaching out to hold Marius’ hand and squeezing it lightly. “Okay, Marius.”
Now holding Vyn and Marius’ answers, Mira turns to Luke. “So, Sherlock.”
Luke perks up immediately at the nickname, and Mira finds it very cute of him to do so. Kind of like a puppy responding to its owner. “Yes, my Watson?”
“Kids? Yay or nay?” Mira asks, tilting her head to the side. Her speech style changes drastically whenever she talks with Luke, and it shows just from her question alone. Luke exaggeratedly puts a hand on his chin as he thinks, and then brightly smiles not one second later. “I like to have kids.”
Luke’s definite answer makes Marius’ eyes go wide like saucers as he witnesses the scene on the sidelines. “Ayo?” Marius comments, his tone an octave higher as he contemplates whether he is surprised or if he is going to tease Luke about this.
The detective narrows his eyes in the direction of Marius, slightly unimpressed by his tone, before clarifying what he really means, “Through adoption.” Luke enunciates, and then he sighs, turning to Mira with a soft smile.
“Now that we are bringing up the topic of kids, I was thinking of adopting one or two.” Luke pauses, his cheeks blushing a bit of red from embarrassment over his thoughts about having kids, but he continues with his reasoning. “It’s just that when I became an orphan, you, aunt, and uncle took me in, sheltered me, fed me, clothed me, and gave me a home. Even though there are times where I miss my parents, I still felt at home regardless.”
Luke looks up, warmth pooling in his eyes, and Mira can feel some sort of love and determination in them. “So, I want to give that kind of feeling to our children too. I just think that those orphans out there would love to have a good home.”
Mira can’t help but melt at the words, realizing that what she and her family have done for Luke has manifested into him wanting to do the same for his future children. Mira nods, fully supporting this idea. “Sounds like a plan, then. Let’s adopt, Luke.”
“Well, since Luke’s planning on adoption, I’m gonna start investing some money in the kids.” Marius chuckles, leaning back, his mind gears already turning to see what he can give for the future adopted kids. “Gotta make sure I’m the coolest uncle!”
Luke raises an eyebrow at that, a bit skeptical over what Marius is planning now. “Yeah, right,” he says, slowly tearing his gaze away from Marius and to somewhere else.
Mira then looks at Artem, who has been observing the whole discussion this whole time. She sees a deep ocean in those sapphire blue eyes, and so Mira asks, “How about you, Artem?”
Artem snaps out of his trance and looks at Mira, “Hm?”
“Kids, Artem.” Vyn reiterates, glancing at Artem as he takes another sip from his teacup. Artem mouths an “Ah”, chucked back to reality—the topic of this whole meeting. Artem darts his eyes away from Mira and to his tablet in front of him, his reflection staring back at the senior attorney.
Then, Artem replies with his honest thoughts.
"I was hoping I could have children with you." Artem mumbles, but it's loud enough for the others to hear. Marius raises an eyebrow, ready to comment anything about it. "Oh yeah? Like Lukie over there?" Marius asks, tilting his head to Luke's direction.
The younger expected the older to reply with something similar to a "yes".
He didn't expect Artem to shake his head, followed by saying, "I meant, biological children, if that's alright."
…Silence dawns upon the base. Mira stares at Artem in shock, but is the first to break the stretching silence. "Well," She chuckles shyly, not exactly opposed to the idea—rather, she's quite willing. "I mean, I don't mind carrying your children, Artem. We can go for it."
Artem blinks and fully gazes at Mira, then smiles softly. "Okay."
Vyn is the first to recover from his initial shock, sighing fondly as he puts the tea cup down. "Well, I would have not expected less from Artem himself. He does make a great father." Artem blushes at that comment, not used to that kind of compliment, but doesn't bother refuting Vyn about it.
Luke smiles, eyes now swirling in excitement, "Then that makes the family bigger than I thought." He says, but Mira knows that Luke is definitely excited to babysit more kids.
Meanwhile, Marius slowly composes himself, his wide-as-hell eyes finally relaxing. "I suppose if I find Missy pregnant in the next few months, I'll know who the culprit is."
Mira's face goes beet red. Don't even mention what Artem looks like—he's gone red red ; he may as well be a tomato head from Marius' suggestive comment.
"Marius! Von! Hagen!"
"What??? I'm just saying!"