Disclaimer: Megaman doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Capcom.

Notes: Some of my post-BN headcanons are in this fic. You have been warned.

Timeline: Post-BN6, when Lan is an adult and Patch is a young baby.

Three's Not a Crowd

The first time that Hub had had a child, he wasn't married.

It had purely been for science, to see if another Navi's data was compatible with Hub's. Of course, Hub being who he was, his father and brother had asked him for permission to perform something like that. They didn't want to make Hub a father against his will, after all, even if Lan was over the moon about being an uncle.

But Hub had seen Patch, his brother's baby. He'd played with him whenever he was in Copybot form, and he loved his nephew immensely. Even Lan had noticed that Hub would pick up Patch whenever the two of them were around, and Patch loved his "Uncle Mega".

"I want a child," Hub had said wistfully one day.

"Well, like Dad and I said, the offer is on the table," Lan told him with a shrug. "I'm sure that you and Roll have been wanting a child for awhile, once the two of you finally tie the knot."

While Hub and Roll had been wanting to get married for ages, they had agreed to wait until Mayl finished her doctorate in music composition. Of course, Lan and Mayl had had no such reservations, had gotten married, and had even had Patch.

"Roll doesn't think she's ready yet," Hub admitted. "Despite how much she wants one. You know that Mayl is really close to finishing her doctorate, and she and Roll have been working really hard and really can't afford anymore distractions."

Which was true; Patch had been born while Mayl had been early in her career, and now that Mayl was very close to getting it, she and Roll didn't have as much time for Patch (though of course she would once it was over). Adding a second child for Roll to handle would be a little too much for her.

"You had that project going on, right?" Hub suggested. "Where you just want to see if my data is can interact in that manner with another Navi's, right? If the other Navi is willing to be a major part of the child's life, then we can just do that, right? Then you'd get your research, I'd get a kid, and Roll wouldn't have to worry so much about taking care of a kid."

Knowing Roll, though, she would probably spoil the young Navi anyways. She had always loved children, no matter whose they were.

Lan frowned. "...Wouldn't that be a little weird? Having a kid with someone that isn't married to you?"

"Lan!" Hub resisted the urge to hit his head against the wall. "It's only weird to you because of how humans have children, and I can't do that, remember? Besides, what's wrong with us just being friends?"

"Fine," Lan rolled his eyes. "Anyways, you got any ideas as to who? Please don't say GutsMan, I'd rather not imagine that."

"Lan!" The older Hikari twin put his hand on his face. "Stop being ridiculous!"

"Okay, okay! So, uh, who?"

It was Hub that looked thoughtful this time. "Zero. If I'm compatible with him, then I'm probably compatible with any Navi."

Thanks to Lan's father helping remove Zero's viral state, the Navi had mellowed out quite a bit and had managed to adopt a more humanoid appearance - how, none of the Hikaris were sure. He'd remained in contact with Lan and Hub, and seemed very fond of the shorter Navi. It still bothered the Hikari twins that they weren't quite sure where exactly Zero had come from; he seemed older than he should for a Navi, and seemed very happy to live a quiet life as the manager of the Virus Breeder despite how powerful he was.

Zero always seemed amused whenever he saw a Z-Saber battlechip, or would look longingly at the remaining Copybots, and Hub was never sure why. Never once had he ever mentioned where he'd come from, other than saying something about Wily finding his data on the net.

The red Navi rarely got involved in anything, though he had gotten involved when Nebula had taken over (he'd led Team Zero, though he and Lan hadn't seen them around too often) and during the WWW's last attack before Wily had finally seen the error of his ways and changed his mind. But one thing that Hub had noticed was that Zero tended to try to save younger Navis first.

Hub had asked Zero the next time they had gone to SciLab. While Zero had been surprised, he'd been amenable to the idea, and, dare Hub say it, excited? Soon enough, with the help of a few other SciLab scientists, the child Navi had been created.

The new Navi, who was mostly blue with silver and red trimming, had ended up looking like a mix of them both, though the robe design in the proposed adult form had been a little bit of a surprise to both Hub and Zero. Given that he mostly looked like Hub, and that part of the conditions had been that the non-Hikari parent got to be a huge part of the child Navi's life, Hub had left it to Zero to name him and design the Navi emblem.

"What'd you name him?" he asked, snickering as the child grabbed a lock of Zero's hair and attempted to stuff it in his mouth.

Zero looked a little pained, but didn't push him away, instead looking down at the little Navi's bright green eyes, which were so full of innocence, curiosity, and wonder. "...I'm going to name him X," he said in a quiet voice.

"X?" Hub asked, blinking, and then realized why. "Oh!"

"You can codename him MegaManX if you want," Zero told Hub, rubbing X on the head as the other cooed happily. "I just... well. He strikes me as an X."

Hub nodded. "I see... what about his Navi emblem?" He glanced down at the data that Zero had been designing. It looked simple enough, and now that he knew the child's name, it made a lot more sense. It was silver with a dark blue background. A yellow diamond was in the center, with red portions coming out of it to make it look like a stylized 'X'.

"Just thought I'd design it like this," Zero told him, gently tapping at the data before he finalized it. "I've had this in mind ever since I knew we were going to have a kid."

"I think he strikes me as an X, too," Hub smiled, not revealing his true emotions. Inside, though, he felt ecstatic, like he could dance and sing with joy. He had a child! Lan had a nephew! Patch had a cousin! Yuuichiro and Haruka had another grandson!

A quick glance over at Zero showed that the blond Navi had a soft, goofy smile on his face as he considered X, that Hub had never seen before in his life. Hub couldn't ever say that he had ever seen the former virus look so happy. It was almost as if a weight had been lifted off of Zero's chest.

That was why neither Navi had forgiven themselves when X had been stolen, and despite desperately trying to find him, they had been completely unsuccessful. After a year of no luck, Zero retreated back into the Virus Breeder, and Hub tried very hard not to think about X and cry.

Even if X reappeared many years later, going by Rian, and was happy to resume his relationship with his parents, those precious formative years had been forever taken from them.

The second time that Hub had a child, he was married.

Mayl had finished her doctorate successfully, and now that she was no longer under any sort of obligations, Hub and Roll had happily gotten married to each other - much to the joy of their friends. They had finally tied the knot, and with Lan and Mayl already working hard on their family, it was time that they started one of their own.

And that meant finally having a child.

Despite the fact that Hub was still nursing the open wound that was the loss of X, he still wanted a child of his own. Roll, thankfully, had been extremely supportive of him while he had mourned X, speaking quietly to him and allowing to be upset. He would have done anything to get X back. Anything.

Was that how his parents had felt when he'd died from HBD? How horrible they must have felt, knowing that their child was dying and not being able to do anything about it. Not for the first time, he was glad that he was alive right now.

He had died and his father had gone crazy trying to bring him back, despite having Lan. He knew that Lan's presence had helped bandage the wound for his parents, even if it had never gone away, as well as having him around as a Navi. There was the chance that such a thing would do the same for him, and plus, he and Roll had been wanting a child that was theirs.

"Lan," Hub had said, finally. Patch was two years old by this point. "Roll and I decided that we want a child."

"Huh?" Lan glanced down at his older brother. "...You sure? I mean, with what happened with X and all..." The young man trailed off. X had been his nephew, and he missed the joyful little Navi immensely.

"I'm sure, Lan," the Navi had replied. "I just can't keep living in the past forever, you know? X might be gone, but that doesn't mean I still can't have a family."

"Okay," the response had come, with Lan looking down at Hub seriously. "Dad and I can take yours and Roll's data and make a Navi out of it. I'm guessing the two of you want to name him, right?"

Hub nodded. "You can give him a codename, just let me pick his official name."

A grin from the younger Hikari twin. "Gotcha. Just give me a couple of days~."

Roll had nearly squealed with joy when they'd told her, and she had eagerly donated her data for a Navi to be made out of it. A few days later, both Hub and Roll were cooing over the new Navi.

It was a boy again, with Hub and Roll's bright green eyes, though Hub noted with amusement that the design appeared to be more similar to his RollSoul form rather than the two of them. The armor was a light blue with pink, maroon, and gold trimming, and his hair was dirty gold, spiky, and came down to his shoulders. This time, Hub and Roll had designed the Navi emblem together, to look like a pink, softer version of the Hikari family emblem.

Hub had groaned when he'd seen Lan's codename for their child. "MegaManJr? Really, Lan?"

"Whaaaat?" Lan had protested despite Mayl's giggles. "He looked like you! I didn't know what else to call him!"

"Well, we can call him Beep?" Roll had suggested, but that idea was quickly shot down by Hub, Lan, and Mayl. The four of them proceeded to go through a lot of names after that, with the little Navi cocking his head curiously each and every time they said something but not responding to it.

"What about Stream?" Hub finally said, and his son's face had broken out into a smile.

Roll brightened. "I like that!"

With that settled, they made sure to protect Stream very well. For many years, they allowed no one but family around him, which essentially limited it to the parents (Hub and Roll), the uncle's family (Lan, Mayl, and Patch), the grandparents (Yuuichiro and Haruka, their Navis CopyMan and Plum, and Mayl's parents and their Navis), the great-grandfather (Tadashi), and the dog (Gow).

They were not going to have a repeat of X.

When both Patch and Stream had been old enough, and had been introduced to each other as an operator/Navi pair, the two got along swimmingly.

Lan and Hub would both beam proudly at the two of them. Cousins or not, they were just as close as the Hikari twins had been at their age, despite looking completely different; compared to Stream's dirty blond hair and green eyes, Patch had dark red hair and brown eyes. Hub was almost terrified of what kind of mischief they were going to get into, though thankfully Stream seemed a little more responsible than Patch did.

His expression was soft every time he considered his nephew and son. He was going to protect them as best as he possibly could, no matter what.

The third time that Hub had a child, it was despite being married.

He hadn't even planned to have another child at the time. What reason was there? Lan and Mayl had one son, Patch, and Hub and Roll had one son, Stream (well, X too, but he didn't even know if X was still alive at this point). Hub was Lan's Navi, Roll was Mayl's Navi, and Stream was Patch's Navi. Everything was clean and simple.

No, another child Navi was out of the picture unless Lan and Mayl had another child as well. So he hadn't given it any thought.

He'd been out in the Internet, scoping around the Undernet. Lan had asked him to drop some data off for the Doc, who was probably the only Undernet Navi that the two of them fully trusted outside of Serenade. The fact that he had once been Dr. Cossack's Navi and one of Hub's hapless babysitters when he'd been little (at least, whenever CopyMan could rope him into it) also helped.

Going into the Undernet had given him no problems. While it was still a safe haven for criminals and other undesirable Navis with tons of powerful viruses (especially since Wily's Colonel/Iris system didn't have any jurisdiction there), it was probably one of the most secure places on the Internet. Hub had paused, having debated going towards Graveyard Area once again to see if he could find that place, but had finally opted not to.

He could always go another time.

It was while heading out of the Undernet that he realized that he had taken a wrong turn, but before he could correct himself, he had to leap out of the way of a Hells' Rolling attack. Internally, he groaned.

"There you are, my rival," Bass said, sounding far too pleased.

"Bass, seriously? I'm busy right now," Hub grumbled. The cloaked Navi had made amends with Cossack, but he was still very independent and refused to be tied down. While he still wandered about the Undernet and fought Navis that he considered strong, Hub had always fascinated him and he always leapt at the opportunity to fight him.

Bass didn't acknowledge that he had heard that, and Hub mentally groaned once more as he dodged. He had gotten much better at taking Bass on without Lan to help him, but that didn't mean he preferred to fight him alone.

One misstep, and Hub knew that it would all be over.

So of course he would make the misstep, and he realized it far too late when he felt Bass's hand on his Navi emblem, and he felt his own data partially unraveling. Crap. Bass's Get Ability power. Hub only had just enough time to kick Bass away from him before everything went white.

When he woke up, he was laying on the ground, surprisingly still in one piece, and quickly checked his data over to make sure that it was all there. It was. Had Bass let him go? If so, why?

Hub opened his eyes and sat up - and stared.

Bass was still there, standing in front of him, but his attention was not on Hub. Instead, it was on the tiny yellow and white Navi with pastel blue and lavender trim that was in his arms. He looked very baffled and not sure of what to do, and if it had been any other situation, Hub might have laughed at seeing the normally dignified and vicious Navi like that.

"...You're finally awake," Bass said, though he didn't look at Hub. "What do I do?"

"Wh- where did he come from?" Hub finally asked, staring at the little Navi as it opened its eyes, and Hub nearly fell over. The eyes were shaped like his, and green just like his as well. They looked no different from X and Stream's eyes.

"I attempted to take your data with Get Ability," Bass said bluntly, not sounding sorry. "But you wouldn't let me, and instead you grabbed my data. I pulled away, and our data broke apart from us, combined itself together, and created... this Navi here."

"We had a child?" Hub asked, stunned.

"I suppose so." The mood for battle was gone, so Bass stalked forward and dropped the Navi child into Hub's arms. "Here. Take him. I have no use for children."

"Ah, Bass-!" But despite Hub calling out to him, Bass wrapped himself in his cloak and teleported away, leaving Hub all alone with a small, newly-created Navi. "...Great."

The baby Navi clung to him happily, cooing all the while, and Hub held him up, studying him. While he was a little surprised he didn't look more like BassCross, he was quite cute... and then he noticed something that made his eyes widen. For all of Bass's bravado and supposed distancing, the other couldn't fool Hub easily. There was a Navi emblem. Lavender border, white inside, with a 'tr' written in light blue on it. It was just like how Bass, before he had been injured during the Alpha Rebellion, had had a stylized 'f' (for what he had been originally called, Project: Forte).

Bass had cared enough to create a Navi emblem. Hub looked down at the emblem and smiled, as he figured out what to name the little Navi.

"Hi, Trill. I just hope Roll likes you."

This was going to be interesting to tell Lan and the rest of his family.

Roll had thankfully accepted Trill, knowing that it hadn't been Hub's fault that Bass had attacked, and proceeded to try to spoil the Navi every moment she got. Stream, too, was very fond of his little brother.

Hub did note that one time, he had come home to find Roll looking extremely sheepish and slightly nervous, and one glance at Trill showed him why: the tiny Navi had a small scrap of a suspiciously familiar cloak on, and was playing with a plushie of Gospel that could only have come from one source.

The next time he had seen Bass, he'd seen the torn cloak, and had tried not to bust out laughing as they fought.

If anyone wants to see my designs (and explanations for said designs) for X and Stream, please visit my Deviantart (Shreedle) and search for X or Rian, and Stream or MegaManJr. I have not made an adult design for Trill yet, but the child design is the same as the one from the anime.

Fun fact: If I was using the Japanese names, Stream (named after a season of the EXE anime) would have been named "Baito" or "Byte" to go with the naming theme of "Netto", "Saito", and "Raito". Lan's codename of "MegaManJr" (which is the canon name for MegaMan and Roll's son) is partially from the season Beast of the EXE anime, where he tried to name Trill "Korock" (Little Rock, or Rock Jr basically). Roll's suggestion of "Beep" is from the same scene.

Trill being Bass's was decided by two things: Trill's connection to the Cybeasts in the anime, and the shape of Trill's helmet reminding me of Bass's headfins. Trill's Navi emblem is the musical sign for a 'trill', just like how Bass's in the BN manga was the musical sign for 'forte'.

As always, read and review, I love knowing that people are still reading my stuff~.