Luken
Meer means magical and cherished. It’s a name that we don’t hear often, thought to be ‘ old-fashioned .’ It had been common eons ago, but fell out of use sometime in the last couple of centuries.
It’s the perfect meaning for the name of our little boy. The only thing I would add to it would be something about how we fought so fucking hard to have you. As it turns out, most names don’t have that kind of vibe to them.
Rhydian suggested we make up our own name, and that will be the definition of it. He gets me.
Daunt and Hakan were less impressed with this idea. Iri giggled for hours after I suggested it. I think he’d have loved a name that we made up like that. For hours after this discussion, we could hear Iri giggle occasionally. It made us all smile.
But looking down at our sweet baby Meer, I think this name fits him best. He is cherished. We fucked hard to have him. I mean… we tried hard to have him. No. Let’s be real. We fucked hard to have him. That’s an entirely accurate description of the situation.
There will never be a child loved as desperately as we love this little boy. It’s because of him that we didn’t have to run away from the home we love. It’s because of him that Iri and I were allowed to stay together.
In some ways, it’s because of him that our pack came home. Meer is such a kingpin in every facet of our lives. His existence allowed our relationship to flourish. He is the heart of our home.
“He’s so tiny,” Iri murmurs, our little newborn cradled in his hands as we crowd around him to admire Meer. “I grew a life.” The awe in his voice is everything.
I feel that awe. We created that life. Through every damn obstacle and impossibility, we created that life and Iri’s body grew it for almost two entire years, until he formed a completely viable little human being.
“Perfect,” Daunt murmurs.
“The best thing that’s ever come from an orgasm,” Rhydian says.
Iri snorts. His body shudders as he tries to contain his laughter and not disturb our child.
“Fuck’s sake, Rhyd. That’s not appropriate,” Daunt hisses.
“He doesn’t understand the words,” Rhydian says. “I’m excited for my orgasm to produce one too.”
Iri doesn’t quite contain his giggling this time. He bows his head, his body shaking with silent laughter.
My smile hasn’t left my face since the doctors placed our tiny human on Iri’s chest once they carved him from Iri’s body.
Carved might not give the correct aesthetic, but when I saw the blade of the scalpel and the fucking things they used to hold Iri open to pull our baby out?
I will have nightmares. But then they sewed my breedable back up, and there’s this tiny little incision which is impossibly small.
I’m flabbergasted that such a tiny hole stretched large enough to pull this baby from.
The doctors even say that it shouldn’t scar since it was such a small, clean cut and there were no complications.
“Honestly,” Daunt mutters. “Can’t allow you around anyone.”
Daunt isn’t fooling any of us, though. His smile has been painted on his face, just as mine has been.
Like me, he can’t look away from Iri and Meer.
I’m not sure which one he’s more smitten with right now—Iri, who grew this perfect little wonder or Meer himself, who we’ve waited to meet for so damn long.
Iri’s head leans against my shoulder, and he sighs. I kiss him, settling in a little closer. “He’s perfect,” Iri says. He looks up at me, meeting my gaze. His eyes shine with moisture. “I can’t believe we made him, Luken. A perfect combination of you and me.”
“And our nutritious juices to help him grow,” Rhydian says, causing Daunt to pinch him and Iri to laugh.
Rhydian is comic relief, even when we don’t need it. I’m not sure he likes serious moments. They may make him feel uncomfortable. He always breaks them with something that results in our laughter.
“I swear, I’m going to put a muzzle on you,” Daunt warns.
Then again, maybe Rhydian makes the comments he does specifically to get a rise out of Daunt. Rhydian’s smile, which Daunt can’t see, suggests as much. The wink is even more convincing of this hypothesis.
Iri swivels his head to grin at Daunt.
He’s not negating the contributions the rest of our pack made in helping Meer grow. We all know that he’s still harboring disbelief that Meer exists. I think there’s a part of us all that is. We fucked like horny-ass rabbits for ten months, trying to create him. Ten long months.
Granted, we would have been fucking like that, regardless.
Meer will simply never know how very important he is to us. He will never understand just how deep our love for him is.
Hakan gently touches Iri’s face. It’s soft and loving. The way Iri looks up at him makes my heart stutter in my chest.
“You did good, Daddy. So, so good.” He leans forward and presses a kiss to Iri’s forehead. “I’m so proud of you.”
Iri sniffs, blinking away tears that threaten to fall. He carefully hugs Meer to his chest and closes his eyes.
“You’re going to make the best parent,” Rhydian says in a rare, serious, sentimental statement. We know better than to comment on it, though. He’ll just double down on his need to create chaos and laughter.
“I think we all are,” Iri says. “We’re so ready to be dads.”
Our moment alone as a pack is interrupted by a knock on the door. A duo of nurses and a doctor come in.
“How are you feeling, Iri?” Dr. Kirk asks.
Iri nods, a big smile on his face. “Great.”
Dr. Kirk smiles. He pulls the rolling stool closer to the bed. We rearrange ourselves around Iri so that the doctor has clearer access and view of him and Meer. “Do you mind if we check Meer over some more?”
Iri sighs. “Can you do it right here in front of me? I want to watch.”
“Of course,” Dr. Kirk says. He moves the stool further to the left so one of the nurses can bring in another.
We watch closely as Iri hands Meer over. Our eyes are all riveted on the nurses examining our baby. Taking vitals and blood, and checking his limbs. Everything they’ve already done but will repeat until we leave the hospital. Just to be sure he’s growing as he should.
“I have some questions I’d like to ask,” Dr. Kirk says. “You mentioned you had some help conceiving. Can you tell me about that?”
I nod. “I ordered some urulian flower nectar from the local flower shop and mixed it with water. Iri drank a glass before every breeding for a week.”
“I also found some pills at the shop beside the flower shop that promised all-natural conception help, and I took those daily until I ran out. About a dozen, I think, though I didn’t really count them. I might still have the bottle at home,” Iri says.
“I’d love to see it,” the doctor says.
“Is everything okay?” Hakan asks. “Is Meer okay?”
“Meer’s perfect,” Dr. Kirk says. “However, Luken and Iri should not have been able to conceive at all. They’re genetically incompatible. Something we’ve confirmed several times in the lab over the years when it became apparent that Luken wasn’t willing to let that answer rest.”
“Correct, and we wouldn’t be in Alyra right now if we hadn’t been able to conceive,” Luken says.
“I get it, and we support and agree with the mission of the family cities. But that doesn’t mean we were willing to be separated, even if that meant leaving everyone we know and love in order to be together. ”
Dr. Kirk bows his head. “I understand. I would have been sad to see you go.”
“With all due respect, is there a point to this conversation? We’d like to celebrate our son and not listen to how the city refuses to accept that they can love each other without the ability to procreate,” Hakan says.
I grip his hand. He’s always been a little touchy when it comes to this subject. Iri’s safety should be the city’s top priority. Not whether he’s able to procreate. In his eyes, that’s the line, and the city failed as a governing body as far as he’s concerned.
Dr. Kirk nods. “Yes. I’m sorry. This isn’t the tone I meant for this conversation.
What I’m really trying to emphasize is just how miraculous Meer’s existence is because it shouldn’t have been possible.
Every piece of science we have says so. But here he is.
Which means he’s the most important child in this entire city.
You two are the most important subjects as far as this research goes.
Without trying to make this clinical, we’d love to see if you can reproduce this again.
We’ll provide the pills and nectar if you can produce the bottles they came in to assure that we gather exactly the correct items.”
Iri meets my eyes and then looks up at the rest of our pack before meeting the doctor’s eyes. “I don’t mean this to sound as if we’re not interested, but… I have other breeders in my pack. Not just Luken.”
“I know. We’re asking you to think about it.”
Conversation stops as the nurse places Meer back in Iri’s hands. Everyone in the room stares at a slightly disgruntled Meer as Iri brings him to his chest. Skin on skin and Iri’s heartbeat settle our newborn into a quiet nap.
“Why can’t you find other completely incompatible couples for your experiment?” I ask.
“I can. We are. But in science, it’s not just about proving that something works once.
It’s about the repeat results. What if this is specific to you two?
What if you two are the answer to bridge this entire chasm of limited male breedables?
This is a heavy burden to carry; I know that.
I’m not negating that, either. I don’t want you to carry it alone.
What I’m hoping is that you’ll think about it. ”
“Does that mean you’ve looked at my compatibility with the rest of my pack?” Iri asks.
Dr. Kirk nods. “I have. Daunt is of a genetic makeup that you have the absolute highest probability of conception with. Not just within your pack but in a pool of candidates, he’d be top of the list.”
We look at Daunt, and he grins widely.
“Rhydian and Hakan are what we consider eighty percent-ers, meaning that on a scale of compatible to less compatible, they’re within the range that we’d have approved as matches with a high enough possibility of conception rate to satisfy the government.”
“How nice,” Hakan deadpans.
It’s clear that Dr. Kirk finds his response amusing, though he tries not to smile.
He gently rests his hand on Meer’s head for a moment.
“I understand our methods might not be palatable to everyone.” He looks at Hakan.
“But the mission of the cities is to keep this genetic anomaly viable, and to do that, we need to keep this section of our species’ numbers increasing.
Between difficulty in conception, long gestations, and the fact they’re being abducted at a higher rate than they’re being birthed, male breedables’ numbers are falling.
They could easily go extinct within the next two generations if we haven’t found the breakthrough we need.
I’m not putting that on your shoulders to carry.
The fact Meer is here tells us there is an answer, and even if you don’t want to be a part of the ongoing study to reproduce the same results, you’ve already contributed to the effort in raising the male breedables numbers exponentially.
You proved it can be done, despite what your genetics say is possible.
Just think about it. There will be absolutely no repercussions if you decide not to try again.
I’ll put that in writing, and have it notarized as an assurance with all the government support for that decision you need to reassure you.
But I want you to be aware of how important your search for this outcome has been to the scientific propagation of male breedables. ”
He takes Iri’s hand and squeezes it gently. “You did it,” he says, and I swear, I can see something akin to parental pride in his eyes as he looks at Iri. “You’re amazing, Iri. Truly, absolutely amazing.”
Iri chokes up and looks away, whispering, “Thank you.”
Dr. Kirk rests his hand on my shoulder before he ushers the nurses out of our room. Silence follows him. We curl around our breedable and our tiny baby. Tiny, tiny human.
“You know,” Hakan says. “As angry as I am at the way putting Iri’s life in danger would be the only option you had to be together, I’m kind of excited by what Doc said.”
“Are you kidding?!” Rhydian says with excitement.
“Yes! Iri and Luken could be the names that go down in all the history books as the reason the male breedables population numbers and ability to breed successfully carry on in future generations. Stronger than ever. Your love story will be a well-known fairy tale the world over. All because your love was so strong and your desperation to stay together led you to drinking flower jizz and sucking down weird-ass drugs!”
Iri laughs. “Oh my god, you don’t get to write the story!”
“Fuck’s sake,” Daunt mutters, not for the first time.
“How about, for right now, we just enjoy our baby?” I suggest. “Iri needs time to heal from growing a baby anyway, so it’s not a decision we need to make right now.”
The energy in the room settles back into the warmth of my pack, filled with love for our newly expanded family.
I think we all know we’re going to try this again.
It’s too important not to. And besides, it’s not a hardship on any of us.
There will be plenty of time to conceive with all my breeders.
We’re going to have a big, happy family.
Especially if this thing we stumbled upon works. We have no reason to say no.
But for now, it’s all about Meer. No one is disappointed in that.