Paparino's Piccolo Gattino

The next morning, Andy and Ash were both up before the crack of dawn, even though the earliest appointment wasn’t until ten-thirty. The former was up that early so he could call out of work, saying that his boyfriend had been sick and he thought he’d caught whatever he had and didn’t want to take any chances by coming into work. Of course his boss wasn’t very happy, but since he’d never called out once due to anything the entire school year, he let him off the hook and just told him to get some rest.

However, the ginger in his system had worn off around three that morning and the latter was up with a roiling stomach again. He whimpered and cried softly as Andy tried to soothe him, eventually waking Jinxx up to get some help. The older man had wanted to let their friends sleep in since they had to go to school, but he soon found that the other submissive teen was quite the invaluable help in calming his sweetheart down.

Around six, he left the collared teen in his friend’s care while he went to wake Jake and CC up for school, knowing that the exam review could do them some good, even if they had their classes in the bag. Once they were both lucid enough to understand what he was saying to them, they both adamantly refused to go to school. Even if they stayed there at the house until they got home from the doctor’s office and helped out with him after their return, they didn’t want to be in school. All of the guys had their classes in the bag and weren’t concerned with missing a day, so he finally conceded.

“D-Daaaaddy,” Ash whined, reaching out to him with tears in his eyes.

“I know, I know,” he crooned softly, kneeling down so he could pick him up. “Let’s get you back to bed for a little while. It’s not quite time for your appointment.”

“Here’s a glass of ginger ale,” Jinxx said softly.

“Thanks, Jinxx,” Andy said softly, cuddling his poor sweetheart close. He made sure not to hold him too tightly, not only so he wouldn’t upset his stomach again, but so neither of them would get hurt if he had to make a run for the bathroom.

“You’re both welcome. Jake and Chuppy are gonna get started on breakfast,” he told them, gently sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“You remembered to warn them not to cook bacon, right?” the older man asked.

“Shit. No, I didn’t.” He jumped up as quickly as he could without jostling Ash too badly. “I need to go do that real quick.”

Jinxx flew out the door of their bedroom and down the hall, wanting to warn the others before they started cooking the bacon. Andy’d found out the first time he attempted making it after his sweetheart got sick that it made his stomach roil even more ferociously than it already was, and as bad as his nausea was now, they didn’t need that happening. In fact, it was coming back full-force after a few too-short hours of sleep, and he needed to be able to keep something down.

Thankfully, the other submissive teen managed to catch them in time before they even ripped its packaging open, breathlessly passing on the older man’s message. Worried about their friend, they immediately put it back in the fridge, not wanting to do anything that could cause his stomach to be any more upset. Sighing softly, Jinxx turned to return to the master bedroom, hoping he was feeling a bit better.

By the time he returned, Ash was on his knees in front of the toilet again, the ginger ale not really working as well as it had the night previous. He was crying all over again, both from the force of his wretching causing his eyes to smart, and because his ribs were aching from it. His lover knelt in the floor at his side, gently rubbing his back in soothing circles while holding his hair back for him, trying to calm him down a bit in the hopes that it’d help settle his stomach. When he flopped back against him, too exhausted to even holding himself upright, he reached up to flush the toilet before picking him up.

“Jinxx, can you grab some clothes for him from the left side of the closet as you walk into it?” the older man asked. “Make sure it’s something comfortable and easy to get out of, that way if he has to take them off at the doctor’s office, he doesn’t have to fight with them.”

“I’m on it, Andy,” he answered, having taken to calling him by his nickname when they were in private.

“Thanks, man!” Andy answered, working on getting himself changed. “Do you even want to try eating breakfast before we leave, gattino?”

“N-not r-really,” Ash sniffled, his breathing still ragged from his vomiting and crying.

“Your stomach still that upset?” he asked, kneeling down at the side of the bed.

“U-uh h-huh,” the collared teen whimpered.

“Do you mind Jinxx helping you get dressed?” He was concerned about his sweetheart’s well-being. “I’m pretty hungry and wanna eat before we leave, but I don’t wanna leave you alone, or bring anything around that could send you scrambling for the bathroom again.”

“I—I guess s-so,” he answered, barely nodding.

“You okay with helping him, Jinxx?”

“I don’t mind, Andy,” Jinxx answered, shaking his head. “I’m sure he’d help me if I felt this miserable and Jake and CC were unavailable.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen with them if you need me.” Andy rose from where he knelt, groaning as his knees cracked. “Don’t worry, mio gattino. We’ll find out what’s wrong with you before long.”

* * *

An hour later, the band director sat in the waiting room of Hillsboro Family Practice with his sweetheart in his lap, trying to soothe him as well as he could. Thankfully, there was a bathroom nearby so that if he suddenly felt nauseous, he could make a run for that. Since he hadn’t really been able to hold anything down all night, Ash was basically just regurgitating bile and stomach acid at that point, if anything at all. Otherwise, he was just dry-heaving, which surely couldn’t make his ribs feel any better. Seeing him so miserable just made his lover miserable, if only in an emotional sense, because he was absolutely powerless to help him feel better, and that was the only thing he wanted to do.

It wasn’t long after their arrival and getting the teen checked in that they were called back by a nurse who looked friendly enough. Since he was too weak from lack of food to walk on his own, Andy gently cradled him to his chest and carried him back, garnering them strange looks from the nurse and the other patients waiting for their turn. He couldn’t care less what they thought, though; his sweetheart and his health was all that mattered to him right now.

Upon reaching the exam room the nurse led them to, he had to sit down on the exam table and hold him in his lap the way he would a small child. The woman was a bit disturbed at his physical appearance and lethargy as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around his bicep, setting the machine to take his blood pressure while she put a cover over the probe of the thermometer and stuck it under his tongue. Ash didn’t fight her in the least, but barely had the strength required to close his lips around it and hold it in place. Once she’d gotten the readings she needed, she immediately left and went to find the doctor.

KNOCK KNOCK! “Everyone decent in there?”

“Yeah, we’re decent,” Andy answered.

“Good morning. My name’s Dr. Ringel,” an older-looking woman with graying-brown hair said, extending her hand. “Which one of you is Mr. Purdy?”

“This one,” the older man answered, accepting her handshake. “I’m his boyfriend, Andy Biersack.”

“Nice to meet you both. What seems to be the problem?” Dr. Ringel asked.

“This makes the third morning in a row that Ashley’s woken up sick, and he hasn’t been able to keep anything down the past two days,” he told her, sounding extremely worried.

“I noticed that he seemed to be a bit pale,” she agreed, nodding. “Was he sick before this?”

“No, ma’am. It just seemed to come on out of nowhere.”

“Could he have possibly eaten something that gave him food poisoning?”

“I don’t think so. I tend to keep a pretty good eye on what we have at home so it’s not expired when we decide to use it.” He shook his head.

“What about at school? Or have you graduated yet?”

Ash shook his head weakly, barely able to find the strength to do that.

“I’m pretty sure several other local kids would’ve come in with the same complaint if it was something he caught at school,” Andy said, then gently kissed his sweetheart’s temple.

“Hmm. Well, you’ll have to get off the table for me to examine him,” she said, rising from the stool she’d taken a seat on. “It’s fine if you stand next to it, but I might have to get him to lay back at some point.”

The older man was completely agreeable, wanting her to be able to do whatever she needed to in order to help him feel better. Ash whined a bit when he sat him up so he could get off the table, turning a bit green as he was moved from his stomach wanting to act up again. It was quite obvious that he felt awful, and the doctor even grimaced at how bad he obviously felt.

She went through a typical physical exam, which included having to press on his stomach to make sure nothing was wrong that could be felt with her hands. The second she was done with that, Andy had to grab a small trash can for him, his iffy stomach not liking the pressure on it. Dr. Ringel was startled by the force of his wretching, using one hand to cover her mouth to stifle a gasp. The older man looked at her with worried eyes, mouthing “This is what I’ve been dealing with for two days”. She nodded her understanding, then decided that a urine and blood test were in order to see if that could lead them to an answer.

Without the strength to do much on his own, Ash had to be carried to the bathroom by his lover, where he suffered the mortifying indignity of pissing in a cup while he watched. Afterward, it was off to the blood lab, where he sat in the older man’s lap to have his blood drawn. He wasn’t very fond of needles, but having had IVs in the past and wanting to find out what was wrong with them, he merely did what the nurse told him to and held still so she could draw his blood.

Once the needle had been removed and a piece of gauze taped over the spot, Andy gently lifted him back into his arms and carried him back to the exam room. Since Dr. Ringel was done with the physical exam and he just wanted to be cuddled, the older man got them both settled on the exam table once again. He held the teen as close as he could without upsetting his stomach again, gently rubbing soothing circles into his back as they waited for the doctor to return. They both hoped that the results of his urine test and blood work gave them some kind of clue as to what was wrong with him, knowing they couldn’t deal with this for much longer. Ash was too weak and sick, and his lover would lose his mind if this was long-term with no cure.

KNOCK KNOCK! “All right, guys. The results are back.” Dr. Ringel gently closed the door behind her and took a seat on her stool again.

Andy held his breath, worried and wondering what was wrong.

“However, they’re not making much sense.” She looked thoughtful as she turned her attention to them. “Since I didn’t have you strip down before, Ashley, are you sure you’re male?”

The teen gave her an indignant look as he nodded.

“What kind of question is that?” his lover demanded, outraged by her words.

“Calm down, Mr. Biersack. I was asking because, as I said, these results aren’t making much sense,” she repeated. “When the lab ran their entire work-up, they included a pregnancy test. Presumably because he has what’s traditionally a girl’s name, and they thought the patient was female.”

“Go on,” he said, nodding as he calmed down a bit.

“The pregnancy test—both the urine and blood test—came back positive. That doesn’t make much sense if he really is male, now does it?” Dr. Ringel asked, cocking a brow.

“Not in the least,” Andy answered, speaking on his sweetheart’s behalf, too.

“That’s why I asked about his gender, just to be sure. I’m a bit stumped as to why a pregnancy test would come back positive for a male,” she continued. “Do you mind if I give you an ultrasound? I don’t see how that could reveal a cause for your illness—or these results—but it might be better than just thinking they’re wrong altogether.”

Ash weakly shook his head, taking the assistance his lover offered in laying back on the table while the doctor left the room again. She was back moments later with what they both considered an odd-looking machine, which she plugged into the wall right next to the table. While it was warming up, she had the teen pull his sweatpants down a bit, his shirt up higher, so that his abdomen was revealed. As she picked up a bottle that was hanging from the cart the machine sat on, she warned him that the gel would be cold.

The teen could help the gasp that escaped his lips when she squirted a generous amount on his lower belly, just barely above his crotch. Andy was confused by the placement of it, but said nothing as he gently brushed the teen’s hair back and kissed his forehead. He focused on comforting his sweetheart while Dr. Ringel turned her attention to the screen as she ran the probe over his belly.

Moments later, she used her free hand to stifle a gasp, her eyes widening in shock as she tried to keep her emotions and reactions reined in. Both men turned their attention to her, wondering what was going on since she said nothing before moving the probe, apparently to get a better angle on whatever she was looking at inside Ash’s abdomen. After a few more moments, she finally returned her attention to the two of them, clearly barely able to breathe, and took a moment to catch her breath before saying anything. This worried the two of them greatly, Andy more so because he’d been so worried about him, anyway.

“Ashley, were you aware that you’re what’s known as a hermaphrodite?” she asked.

“A what?” they asked in unison.

“A hermaphrodite. Someone who appears male externally, but has the reproductive organs of both genders internally,” Dr. Ringel explained.

“You’re saying I’ve got the reproductive organs of a woman in me?” Ash asked. It was the most he’d said since the start of the appointment.

“Yes. I can clearly see a womb, fallopian tubes, and two slightly under-sized ovaries on the ultrasound,” the doctor answered, nodding.

“What about a…well, for lack of a better term, man-gina?” Andy asked.

“Well, that’s the strange part. Apparently his body adapted to having that tract because it appears that the vagina that should’ve formed is actually connected to his rectum.”

Both of them had to shake their heads to clear the confused fog gathering there.

“No, I never knew about having such a condition,” the teen told her, shaking his head.

“Well, what a time to find out,” she whispered. Raising her voice she said, “Well, it appears that that particular system is functioning quite normally, despite being within a male body.”

“Huh?” they both asked in unison, beyond confused now.

“Apparently the pregnancy tests you were given were right,” she answered. “Look at the screen, and I’ll show you.”

Andy and Ash both turned their attention to the screen of the ultrasound scanner, holding their breath.

“This blackened area is the interior of your womb. You see that little speck right there?” She pointed to a tiny little speck right in the center of the black area. “That’s an embryo. From the looks of it, I’d say it’s no more than six weeks old, if that.”

Covering his mouth, the teen felt tears well up in his eyes.

“So you’re saying that Ash is pregnant?” his lover asked, sounding both confused and incredulous.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Dr. Ringel answered, nodding. “If he’s engaged in any anal sex, considering that his vagina doesn’t open to the outside of the body the way it would if he were female, it would’ve been easy for him to conceive and not even realize he could if he didn’t already know about his condition.”

“Is it even safe for him to continue a pregnancy, though?” the older man asked, sounding terrified.

“Well, considering that he has a fully-developed and –functioning female reproductive tract, I don’t see why not.” She paused thoughtfully. “It’s not like the fetus is growing in his abdominal cavity, which could be lethal, regardless of his gender. However, I’m going to refer him to an OB/GYN who specializes in high-risk pregnancies.”

“But why one of those?” Ash asked, finding his voice again.

“Because, even if you and the fetus are perfectly healthy, you may run into some complications that most women don’t,” she answered, turning off the machine and wiping his belly clean. “First of all, the male body simply wasn’t designed with child-bearing in mind. You could very well miscarry—or lose the baby—within the next few weeks because your body can’t handle the strain.

“However, you could carry past your first trimester and into the second—possibly even to term—and be able to deliver. But if you should carry beyond your first trimester, your body could find adapting to pregnancy to be harder than a woman’s would since it wasn’t designed for child-bearing. You might have to go on bedrest around twenty weeks to stave off preterm labor, and you’ll likely have to have a C-section,” she continued. “An anus wasn’t designed with childbirth in mind, and it’s doubtful that you’ll be able to deliver naturally. Even without that factor, your pelvic opening is going to be narrower than a woman’s.”

“Ah, I see,” Andy agreed, nodding his understanding. “With all those factors, that could cause the pregnancy to be considered high-risk, even without some other complication.”

“Exactly, Mr. Biersack,” Dr. Ringel agreed. “It’s more of a preventative measure than not.”

The two of them nodded their understanding, the older man helping his sweetheart get ready to leave the general practitioner’s office. She made them wait while she put in the referral and even scheduled the teen’s appointment for him, telling them they could get him checked out and leave once it was made. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the next morning at eleven, but at least now they knew what was wrong with him.

After arriving back at their house, Andy tucked him into bed, leaving strict instructions with Jake, Jinxx, and CC to make sure he got some rest. He needed to run over to Wal-Mart for more ginger ale and ginger snaps, as well as try to find something else like Pepto Bismol to help settle his stomach that would be safe for a pregnant person. He promised that they’d explain what was going on when he got back, and the other three teens merely nodded and promised to keep an eye on his sweetheart in his absence. He thanked them profusely before heading back out to his sweetheart’s car.

Neither of them were expecting something like this to happen, but they’d find a way to take it in stride like they did everything else. However, that made him think that, even if he had to dress in drag and pretend to be a woman, maybe he should make an honest man out of Ash. Sure, their relationship was just fine the way it was and they loved each other dearly, but with a baby they never thought they could have on the way, things had been shaken up and changed dramatically.

Notes