(THREE WEEKS LATER)

That one night had changed everything for Mir and Lexi, and now the two were near inseparable. She would always cry out for him whenever someone else held her (even Seungho), and he was the only one who could feed her, or comfort her, or put her to bed without much fuss, and it was more than apparent that the others were all growing incredibly jealous of it. Seungho would keep Mir out of her sight when he held her, to try to get her to forget about him; G.O. would sing to her in the hopes that she would relax for his soothing voice; Joon would try to play around with her, but ended up just scaring her most of the time, counteracting his efforts entirely; and Thunder, well, he would stand there at the side of her bassinet whenever Mir laid her down to nap, his hand on her tummy, and he would speak to her as nicely as he could, telling her all of things he'd already said a thousand times over ever since she'd been brought home... But nothing worked, and Mir was loving every second of it.

He had always been known as the worst parent out of the five of them, and when he'd first had Lexi, it seemed that things were going to be the same all over again; but something must have changed in her that night when she'd cuddled his hand and felt his love radiate for her. And now, the other four knew what it was like to be unwanted, and unneeded, all while he stood there and watched as she rejected each and every one of them in favor of being in his hold once more.

"You must have done something in her favor to make her act the way she does towards you now," Seungho had said one morning, when he went to feed Lexi one of her pre-made bottles, and only succeeded in making her even more upset than she already was. That was when Mir had come in and gotten her instead, and fed her straight from his own body as she quieted down to a contented gurgle. "And it must have been something to make her hate the rest of us too, because we can't even look at her anymore without her crying."

And it might have been true; all he'd asked was for her to love him, and want to be close to him, but the part about her shunning the others was just an added bonus. He was her umma though, so he could understand that once she started experiencing new things outside of the hospital, she was going to want to be close to the one person she knew better than herself; and that was Mir, since they had already spent more than eight months together as she was growing in his tummy. And even is OB/GYN had told him that babies were attracted to their mother's heartbeat, especially at a newborn age, so that was probably what she searched for whenever one of the others touched her. And as good as they were at being parents, there was just no changing their internal mechanisms to match her tastes, which meant that Mir's beat was the only one she could fall asleep to, or eat along to, or be quieted by; and he was more than proud to know that fact, because he'd never had someone depend on him so much before, and it was both a happy but stressful feeling.

Bear in mind that his schedules were beginning again too, so he couldn't be there every moment of the day to hold or comfort her, and so most times she was either cooped up in the dorm with one of the other members while she screamed her head off until he came back home, or she was put in her car seat in the middle of a studio, a blanket over the top of it to keep the lights from hurting her eyes, as he tried to film and get things wrapped up before she called out to him that she was hungry, scared, in need of his hold, or just plain cranky.

Not many of the other idols—or even the producers—seemed too care that much though, and would instead crowd around the two of them whenever he brought her out to hold her, cooing to her and rubbing their hands over her head as she gazed up at all of them, not really knowing who they were, but being okay with their presence since she was in Mir's hold, and whoever he trusted, she would too.

There were even pictures taken every once in a while, of her cradled in his hold as a fellow idol, sometimes even a whole group, gathered together to have a photo taken with her to put on their phone or computer at home, and once Mir finally posted his first picture of her sleeping figure to his Twitter, every other one that had ever been taken of her surfaced on the internet as well, popping up in VIXX's blog alongside their main vocal Jung Taekwoon (nicknamed Leo); or with all of SHINee, where Key was holding her foot, Taemin was cradling her head, and Minho had his finger wrapped up in her hand; and there were some from 2NE1 too, from when they had gone to the dorm to visit (as they usually did during schedule lulls), and each had a pose of kissing her on the cheek when the picture was taken. And later on that same night, Sandara had even gone so far as to post a message everywhere she could about how proud she was of her niece, and how she couldn't wait to be able to take her for sleepovers, shopping, movies, birthdays, and so much more.

But not everyone was like that, mainly some of the jealous female idols who had favored Thunder more than anyone else, and had been hoping for a shot with him when his time at J. Tune had ended. And then there were those who were upset with the fact that Mir was still allowed to be a part of MBLAQ, even though he had broken one of the biggest rules of his contract, claiming that it was because of his CEO brother in-law that the idea had even been considered after it was found out that he and Thunder were a couple, and that there was a baby on the way as well. Those were the people Mir wanted to avoid the most in face-to-face encounters, side-stepping around them when they were on a set, not talking to them unless it was during filming time, keeping Lexi as far from their reach and piercing gazes as he could, or ignoring their calls and texts and emails and voicemails until they gave up to go torture someone else.

And then there were the people who absolutely hated that he was a mother, who thought that his relationship with Thunder was already taboo enough, and that bringing a child into it was pure devil's play. They would send all of MBLAQ threats and hate mail, ominous pictures and dark promises that Lexi would be gone as soon as they got their hands on her.

Mir and Thunder had cried for days when they saw those kinds of things for the first time, holding Lexi close and not wanting to let her out of their sight for even a moment, even though they were all locked up in the dorm where no one could get to her. They were beyond frightened of what could happen, of what other people out there in the world were willing to do just to make a point of their beliefs, and it practically forced them to consider stepping out of the spotlight, just make sure she was safe and out of harm's way of any of the extremists who might be lurking in the city, ready to strike.

But it was Hyo-Sun and Dara who were able to change everything, and bring peace back to their minds by reminding them that this had all happened back when they had debuted as well. Anti-fans had berated the both of them for being the talentless, cheating, fat maknae rapper, and the lanky, squeaky-voiced, replacement visual, and the number of ill-willed letters and messages in their fancafe had brought their self-esteems down even more than they already were... At least until their fans had come to their rescue, and defended their hard work and skills, even if Joon and G.O. were the big stars of MBLAQ at that point, and the other three just sank into the background. And it was also their fans who had called the haters out right back, saying that if they even tried to harm an idol, no matter who it was, they would be arrested and put on trial long before they could even get close. Not only that, but Hyo-Sun reminded them as well that they had security and Bear-hyung around at all times, so who would even have the chance to touch Mir or Lexi before they were roughly escorted away?

Mir had taken more time than Thunder to calm back down again, knowing that his hormones were probably the reason for it since he was still directly feeding Lexi whenever possible, but he did eventually, and not even a few days later things seemed to settle out again, and so the three of them went out for a walk in a nearby park, where Thunder had let her lay in the grass and look around at all of the odd things she'd never seen before, before he and Mir put out a blanket and ate lunch together, Lexi snuggled in his arms under her MBLAQ blanket—which was draped over his shoulder—as she ate too. And when the sun began to set, they went back home to take baths, play together with Lexi's toys (which she seemed to drool on more than anything), before she was put to bed, Mir and Thunder sat down to watch a movie, and together fell asleep on the couch, cuddled together as they liked to be whenever it was possible, their hands intertwined at their sides.

~~MBLAQ~~

(EIGHT MONTHS LATER)

Days, weeks, and months had passed, and there was nothing new about the bad sides to their lives, so everything quickly went back to normal. Their schedules filled up again; they did another comeback and a full album; they won another award for their main song; Mir went back to his variety shows; Joon did another few movies; Thunder did some dramas and went to a couple of events for 2NE1; Seungho acted and did piano performances; G.O. went back to doing his shows, knowing that he needed to redeem himself for some of his poorer work. And Lexi, she was busy too. She had learned to smile and laugh in her fourth month, and crawl and roll around in her fifth—as well as sit on her own—and now, at her eighth, she was able to walk a few steps as long as someone held onto her hands when she did so. She was still a bit too wobbly to make it on her own just yet, but it was a cute sight nonetheless to see her put one foot out and move forward, then the other, before she bounced around, and fell back onto her bottom again, giggling and clapping like it was the funniest thing in the world.

The others got her to warm back up to them again too, and soon she was re-deciding on who her favorites were the more she grew accustomed to their odd ways. Seungho was perfect for her, laid back and quiet, and he knew just when she needed to be sung to, or when she was squirmy enough to be let down and played with; G.O. could be frightening at times when he joked around, but she liked his voice and his silly faces, so she could let it go most of the time; Joon was just flat-out loud and a pain, and his noises made her cry a lot, but he was also the one who sat at her side the most when she played, and she liked knowing that someone was there for her; Thunder was almost like Seungho, except he was a little more clingy at times, and didn't want to put her down even when she cried for it (because she wanted to explore and not be cooped up any longer); and Mir, well, she was okay with Mir, but he was Joon and G.O. and so much more wrapped into one... and that was in the bad sense. But he was her umma—she could tell that there was a special connection between the two of them—and so she let it go whenever he picked her up and kissed her too hard on the cheek, because that feeling that she was his overrode the rest, and nothing could make her happier than knowing that she had a full family near her at all times to make her smile, and take care of her, and protect her, even if it was probably the oddest family out there... But they were hers, and she was theirs, and not one of them would change that for the world.