Seeing Double
AN: Okay let me just say, this isn’t MPREG. However, this could be highly triggering to anyone with Tokophobia and it also might set off gender dysphoria as well. ALSO! Shout out to my lovely Elaina for co-writing this with me. Love you ♥
“Well what are your symptoms?” Holden inquired as Ethan ran through the side effects of the vial of testosterone he held in his hand and studied the list of side effects on the side.
It was him and his two best friends all sitting there in Ethan’s sister’s bathroom.
El sat crisscrossed on top of the bathroom sink. While Holden took the spot beside him.
“Erm, I guess queasy?” Ethan responded with a puzzled expression on his face.
Nothing was particularly different that he could pin point. Nausea, excessive thirst, over dramatic mood swings. All normal for him these days.
He hadn’t thought anything of it until…
’Bloody hell... Tennessee... how the f*** could I have been so stupid…’
“Nashville,” he finally said out loud as he thought about it.
His friends looked at each other and then at him in confusion.
“Basically Kellen visited me while we were on tour and well…”
“Ethan! No... don’t tell me you…?” El was the one to speak up now.
A nervous laugh came from Ethan and he squinted a bit as his voice gave a little “Maybe…”
He knew if Holden weren’t standing between them now she would most likely smack his forehead. But thanks to the buffer he had created with his body, she was only able to pinch his arm and roll her eyes.
“Ugh. Ethan Carter Lockhart. What are we going to do with you?”
Oh sh*t... she used his whole name.
“Now now, let’s not jump to conclusions. It could be anything... maybe bad fish?”
Holden was always the voice of reason amongst them and he kept them focused.
“I haven’t had fish in months…” he mumbled.
“What about... hm... what about, oh I don’t know... what are you allergic to?”
“Nothing…”
Three hours and two shops later the crew had procured six sets of home tests and what seemed like at least a dozen bottles of various drinks and snacks.
“How you doing?” Holden stood beside him staring at the bags laid out on Nell’s bed.
“Ahh, freaking the bloody f*** out, if I’m honest. I mean…”
“We are here for you, no matter what it says.” Elaina smiled and gave his back a reassuring rub.
Nell had arrived back from errands and walked through the bedroom door to find them standing there.
“We having a party in here or…” she stopped when she noticed the contents spread out across her bed.
“Right hell. It looks like someone’s already had a little too much fun.” She chuckled and looked at Elaina questioningly.
El shook her head and just looked at Ethan. Without another word Nell knew exactly what was happening.
“Sh*t. That’s... fun. Had some scares myself. It’ll be fine baby brother.”
Holden was studying one of the bottles of Japanese soda they had gotten and suddenly popped back into the conversation.
“Can I have this? I mean I don’t think you’ll need all of these will you?”
Way to defuse the tension, nerd.
Ethan shrugged. “Sure. As long as I get the other one.”
Holden pushed the marble into the bottle and took a drink.
Ethan chugged two water bottles within a matter of five minutes and grimaced as the cold liquid ran down his throat.
“I guess it’s time to get this show over with, yeah?”
Shuffling his feet against the carpet he finally walked into the en-suite and shut the door behind.
It wasn’t that he wanted anyone in there with him.
But there something eerie about the sudden wave of loneliness didn’t sit right. Or maybe it was nerves. He wasn’t sure. But despite his best friends and older sister standing on the other side of the bathroom door waiting for him, Ethan felt very alone for a short amount of time.
He emerged moments later with his phone in his hand and an exasperated look on his face.
“Three minutes for most of these. Timer’s ready.”
The phone glowed off Holden and El’s faces as he showed them the screen.
They sat there in almost silence.
Holden against the headboard. Nell beside him. Ethan leaned against his best friend’s chest, and Elaina laying her head on Ethan’s legs as she looked up at him.
All of them solemn until the loud buzz of the alarm buzzed throughout the room.
“I don’t want to look... someone else look...”
“I’ll do it.” Nell volunteered.
They watched while she went to the attached bathroom where everything was set up.
He felt a squeeze from his friends as he hid his face in the crook of his neck. “I don’t wanna know... I mean... I do. But...”
Suddenly Nell appeared in the doorframe.
“I’ve got your answer. Tell me when…”
A long pause and finally Ethan took a deep breath of air and nodded. “Now…”
Nell looked at the instructions paper that came with the tests one more time to be sure and back at him.
“Alright... so based on these five different tests... baby brother...”
She hadn’t paused long but to Ethan it felt like an eternity.
“Ethan, they’re all positive. You’re...”
He cut her off by jumping up from the spot on the bed and moving to sit on the edge with his hands on either side of his face, his elbows on his thighs as he waited for her to drop the word.
The one he had suspected all along.
“Pregnant...” he finished for her.
She nodded in response and suddenly he felt Holden and Elaina move across the bed to wrap him in their arms for another group hug.
“F***…” Holden let out.
Everyone turned to look at him.
“Did you just…?” Ethan laughed the question. His urge to cry was gone for a moment and he was smiling like a dumbass.
“What?! I thought it fit here!” His best friend said in the most serious tone ever.
Everyone except Holden laughed and Ethan couldn’t help but squeeze him in a tight hug.
“You’re right Denny, it’s perfect timing. Thank you.”
He glanced at everyone in the room.
“All of you. Thank you.”
He paused a moment and then added.
“Now if you don’t mind me, I’m taking residence in the guest bedroom where I can have a good cry and a cuppa over old episodes of the Golden Girls.”
Before he could stand up, Elaina beat him to it, her hand out to stop him in his tracks.
"Me and Denny got the tea and snacks, Han.” She smiled, leaning over to place a quick yet soft kiss on his forehead.
Grabbing Holden by his sleeve, Ethan watched as they dragged each other towards the kitchen, grumbling about snacks and how to properly make a brew.
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