Danika and Shinichi discussed their marriage on the way home. They were still talking even after they arrived, because they were discussing it in far more detail than they ever had before.
They had never really spoken of it as something that wasn't just part of a vague future "when". As soon as she started thinking of it as something that needed to be planned like the vacation they were going to take after the demos finished, Danika started to feel overwhelmed by all of the details that they would need to handle, and began to admire her father's fiance a little for being brave enough to plan her own wedding in another country.
Shinichi was surprisingly practical about it, and suggested, "Let's just hire someone who does this for a living. The more we talk about it, the more convinced I am that it's like a public performance, complete with choreography. I'm pretty sure that our manager will want to be involved too, since odds are high that people will publicize it."
Danika sighed and muttered, "Maybe we will have to wait five years to afford it after all?"
"Five years?" he questioned.
She explained her previous thoughts about their budgets and added, "I still need to pay Ryuske back for the remodeling too."
"Which I love, by the way," Shinichi added. "Especially the way you made it so that your closet is connected and you can just scoot around to get yourself ready, like you used to in your little apartment."
Danika asked laughingly, "Why do you like my half best instead of your own?"
"Because I'm selfish," he replied promptly and contradictorily. "It makes me feel less guilty about taking you away from the comfortable home you had created for yourself. And speaking of selfish desires, if we need to wait very long I should really get you an engagement ring."
"I don't need a ring," she objected automatically. "I mean, I'll wear a wedding ring if you want? But an engagement ring is usually collateral for the promise, which we don't need. And it's an expensive inconvenient extra piece of jewelry?"
He winced and complained, "I can't argue that, but…"
"Um, then what about getting a fake that I can discard after we get married?" she suggested.
"Fake… actually, I think I have an idea that you might love?" Shinichi responded more cheerfully. "The costumers we work with lately are printing lots of 3d props, even jewelry. We could get a pair shaped like little dragons?"
"Why did they need to print props for a VR production?" Danika questioned doubtfully. "And are you trying to say that you already have a little dragon wrapped around your finger?"
Shinichi had to wait until he stopped laughing to explain that the costumers he had been speaking of were the ones who created their concert outfits.
--
They were tucked into bed that night before Danika suddenly said, "We've only talked about kids in the same 'someday' way that we talked about getting married before. I'm not even sure that I've ever asked if you really want to have kids?"
"If you want to, I want to. If you don't, I don't," Shinichi replied sleepily.
"What a wishy washy attitude toward a lifelong commitment," she complained. "I know you told me before that your child would never be unwanted, but are you sure that you want one?"
He shifted so that he could look at her and commanded the light to turn on. "It's complicated," he stated quietly.
"Well, yeah, because it's another person?" Danika agreed questioningly.
He smiled at her affectionately but told her seriously, "I loved my mother, but I also kind of have a grudge against her. I really mean it, I want you to want any child that we have."
"Your mother didn't want you?" Danika asked with horror. Shinichi had never once hinted at that before that she could remember.
"That's not what I meant," Shinichi objected. He flopped back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. "Actually, I don't know the answer to that. But she told me millions of times that she loved me. What made me so angry was that even though she always said that, and even though we only had each other, when she got really sick she just… gave up. She barely even fought it."
Danika didn't know what to say, and patted his arm helplessly.
Shinichi smiled again and turned toward her and kissed the tip of her nose before saying, "If we have kids, I know that you'll teach them to never give up. You're nothing like my mother was."
"I think that you are actually a bit like my mother was," Danika admitted. "But are you sure? I do give up sometimes… You don't see me fighting to walk with an exoskeleton or something do you?"
"Because it's too much effort right?" he asked with a grin. "You already can do what you want and be comfortable so you don't."
"Yeah," she agreed a little grudgingly.
"It's not the same," he assured her. He hugged her close and explained, "You get frustrated and irritated when you're not comfortable. You keep worrying over things until they are resolved. You hate stopping in the middle of something, but you don't mind working on ridiculous quests that take you months to complete either."
Danika thought that it sounded like a horrible list of her flaws until he added, "I love that about you."
Tears stung her eyes, and her nose started to run in a very unromantic way, as she replied a little roughly, "I love you so much. I don't think there's anyone else in the world who can say he actually loves my worst flaws as convincingly as you!"
His fingers were warm against her cheeks as he dried the tears at the corners of her eyes and kissed her. "When you tell me that you love something I said, I'm afraid that I'm going to say the wrong thing someday and offend you so much that you run away."
"Your dad asked if I'd break up with you if you told me that you had cheated on me," Danika admitted without meeting his eyes. "And I still don't know."
"I'll make sure that you don't ever have to decide," Shinichi promised firmly.
She raised her gaze to meet his eyes and he smiled back at her affectionately. "Even if we mess things up someday, it's okay as long as we don't give up, right?" she suggested.
"Absolutely!" he agreed fervently.
A moment later he tossed the covers off and reached for his tablet. He looked back at her with a guilty expression, but Danika just pulled the covers up and grinned at him, as she asked, "Sudden attack of song?"
"Yeah!" he acknowledged it laughingly.