Cross and Maddox secretly sneak out of the house after waiting for Seven to sleep. The two immediately went inside the mecha and traveled towards Cross' house which was built on top of a mountain. It was a huge mansion with black as its main color and golden crystallize stone outlining the edges making it more majestic.
However, they didn't enter his house but went directly to one of the warehouses located underground. Cross press his terminal and a portion of the ground shook and a door was seen after the grass was moved sideways.
They open the door and Cross orders his A.I. Throme, to open the lights and adjust the ventilation. The huge place was lit with bright light, the walls were painted white and aside from the huge object in the middle, the place was bare.
Cross look at the platinum blonde mecha and thought this would fit Seven and his princely appearance. It was almost his 11th birthday, so they wanted to surprise him with the newly designed mecha, which only he can use.
Seven could finally use a mecha when he turned 9, he was so happy that the food tasted far more better than his previous ones. However he has still yet to own one, the mecha he was using until now was c-1, a military-provided mecha meant for practice. He needed to keep fixing it though since it couldn't keep up with him, well for starters c-1 was made for a c-class fighter. They couldn't change it hastily because Seven still needed to familiarize himself with mecha command and using a high-level mecha wouldn't help.
They had to make sure to keep this a secret for the past month and so far they were doing a great job keeping it.
Well to be exact Seven never really cared about his birthday, he would even forget about it but when it comes to there, he seems to keep a tab of it. They could still remember the first time Seven greeted the two with a happy birthday and preferred a sumptuous dinner. They were shocked to see so many foods and even ask Seven what was the occasion. For a minute the three of them had a confused look.
The empire doesn't normally celebrate birthdays but Seven didn't know that, so he decided to give a little something to the two who shared the same birthday date which was on November 15th. Since then this became a tradition for the three.
Magus who doesn't usually care about this thing found out about this tradition and would wish Seven a happy birthday and send him gifts. Soldiers would wonder why there were so many packages wrapped beautifully with gold and silver ribbons on a specific day of the month of April.
Maddox was doing some modifications when all of a sudden an emergency notification rang on his terminal. It was the safety detectors on his house. He immediately informed Cross about this.
They ride in his mecha and he used the fastest speed to go over his house. When they reached his place they saw soldiers from the 2nd army. His house was blown into pieces. Piles of debris were scattered everywhere.
Green seeing the two immediately approached and saluted.
"Dr. Maddox, Marshall you've finally arrived, we just received an emergency response from the Dr. house and thought he was in danger, when we arrived here the place was already destroyed." he explained but Maddox didn't care about the house, he was more concerned with Seven.
" don't worry about the house, tell us about Seven" he panicky exclaimed.
"Seven was fine, in fact, this happened due to him reaching a breakthrough in his ability, and now he is currently resting in the medical cabin." the two could finally sigh in relief, as long as he was fine the other things didn't matter.
"will leave the clean up to you" Cross excused himself and accompanied Maddox to the medical tent, inside we're Maddox's research team. They were looking at the chart with fascination burning in their eyes.
"is there something wrong"
The researchers finally realized they were not the only ones there. They compiled a list and handed it over.
"Dr. Look at the results" Ruby pointed to a scalar hologram, the image shown was an overview of his house before the explosion.
They press play and the scene they saw was mind-blowing. A huge light covered the luxurious house then it dim after a few minutes. Next to come out was a black mist which reminded him of Seven's ability, it then traveled to a part of the house which was Seven's room.
They changed the setting to infrared, and with this, they were able to see the energy circulating in the house. This time the energy they detected didn't contain any impurities, it even glimmers like a firefly giving out a mystical feeling.
Minutes later this energy surged inside the sleeping Seven who stayed up floating in mid-air. Surrounding him were shadows of colorful lights, they watch over him, protecting him from the huge amount of energy his body was taking. When he finally breaks through the 8th level, the existing energy circulating in the air exploded, breaking Maddox's house in the process, Seven wasn't hurt but the shadows were no longer there.
"no one speaks about this in the meantime" Cross warned and they all agreed in unison. They didn't have the gut to fight these two, and more importantly, Seven had given them so many ideas for their studies which made them more known in the empire. Even the Dr. attitude toned down a bit, he was no longer hasty and mean.
Maddox check the medical cabin, and when he saw that Seven was just sleeping he asked Cross to take him out.
Cross then open the glass and carried Seven who was sleeping peacefully. He even stirred for a bit but calm down when he smelled the familiar scent of Cross.
"you can just send us to a hotel" Maddox said as soon as they went inside the mecha. His other house was quite far from here so it wouldn't be convenient.
"no, you guys move in with me" he declined the idea of then staying at a hotel. They didn't need to, the two can just stay at his house, he was the only one staying there anyways. Actually, he wasn't in there most of the time.
"do you know what you're trying to suggest" Maddox raised his eyebrows, can he assume something from this? The empire's starnet would surely be buzzing with rumors about them. With this Cross might not really be able to find his spouse.
Cross didn't say anything for a second, he knew that asking him to move with him had a different meaning in someone else view, but he somehow didn't want to let go of this opportunity.
" I know"
"you sure? You know having us stay in your house would further drive away potential married partner" Maddox was planning on taking Cross's suggestions, but he needs to confirm something first. He didn't want to be suddenly thrown out of his house after he realized that he liked someone and was going to marry her or him.
They need to clarify the relationship between the both of them to prevent each other from getting hurt.
"I don't need them, I just need you guys " he said softly, he was scared to admit this fact, but when he looked at him he could no longer hide it. He hoped that the glimmers he saw in his eye resonated with his own. Using his free hand, he reached out to hold Maddox's hand.
"Can I take this as you wanting to be a family with me and Seven" he answered and stare at their intertwined hands. His hands were rough, tan, and huge, very different from his soft pale hands.
"you can take it whatever you want it to be, I'll accept all of them" he pulled him closer and whispered in his ear. " I love you Zalric so will you move in with me"
The moon cast a light on their silhouettes, highlighting the curve on his face, his eyes were sincere and his lips were pursed as he waited for his reply.
Heat traveled on Maddox's face, his ears turn red that he could only nod in agreement. He didn't expect him to suddenly say those words without hesitation.
"OK" this answer made Cross so happy that if he wasn't holding Seven he would have jumped all over the place. To contain his emotions he let go of Maddox's hands and encircled his arms on his waist pulling him closer, he buried his face in his neck nuzzling on them. There was a smile plastered on his face.
"stop that, Seven might wake up"
"Don't worry, Seven must have exhausted himself after the breakthrough"
Seven who had been sleeping on Cross's arm were unaware of the number of happenings in his surroundings. If he were to know that his 'parents' had decided to take a new step in their relationship and he who was sleeping like a pig somehow become a third wheel, he would have wished he was still stuck inside the black hole.