Chapter 2
One morning, Erik woke with a strange sensation twisting in his gut. A wave of nausea hit him hard, relentless and urgent. Without a second thought, he scrambled out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. Dropping to his knees, he barely had time to brace himself before vomiting into the toilet. Even after his stomach was empty, he remained there, breathing heavily, waiting for the discomfort to subside.
Erik had never been one to fall ill easily. Over the course of his life, he could count on one hand the number of times he’d been truly sick. And yet, as unfamiliar as sickness was to him, he knew this felt… different. He didn’t feel feverish or weak in the usual way—just off, as if something inside him had shifted.
After lingering in the bathroom for a while, the worst of the nausea finally passed. Exhausted, he made his way back to bed and collapsed onto the mattress, slipping back into uneasy sleep.
It was late afternoon when he woke again. His stomach growled incessantly, a persistent reminder of how empty it was. He still felt a little off balance, but he figured food might help.
Changing into fresh clothes—though he only had two sets to choose from—he made his way outside, keeping his head down to avoid drawing attention. He wandered the streets until he stumbled upon a small café and decided to step inside. He ordered something simple, ate quickly, paid, and left without lingering.
By the time he returned to the hotel, exhaustion weighed heavily on him. As soon as he stepped into the room, he collapsed onto the bed and passed out.
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A week had passed, and Erik still felt off. Every morning, he found himself hunched over the toilet, throwing up. The mere scent of food drifting through the hotel hallways sent waves of nausea crashing over him. Yet, despite the sickness, he was also constantly hungry—deeply hungry in a way that gnawed at him.
While walking through a pharmacy to pick up snacks and easy meals for the hotel, he happened to pass by a display of pregnancy tests. He didn’t know why he stopped. He just did. His gaze lingered on the box, his fingers twitching at his sides. He didn’t know much about pregnancy, but he knew morning sickness and nausea were key symptoms. And he’d been dealing with them for a week now.
Absurd. The thought snapped through his mind. A man can’t get pregnant. It’s not possible. The anatomy isn’t there. Yet, the suspicion sat heavy in his gut, colder than ice. His breath grew shallow as the fluorescent lights overhead suddenly seemed too bright, too harsh.
Erik didn’t fully understand the depths of the mutation gene or how it could evolve, but he did remember Charles mentioning once that a second mutation could manifest at any time. It could be anything. Completely unpredictable. And as ridiculous as it sounded, Erik couldn't ignore the possibility. After everything, after all this time, my second mutation decides to be this? Fate was cruel.
But more importantly—why the fuck would his second mutation involve pregnancy?
His stomach twisted as his thoughts took him back to the plane. He tried not to think about it, but the memory resurfaced anyway. After the argument, after the anger, they had ended up in the bathroom together. Angry, desperate sex. Charles had taken out his frustration on him, and Erik had let him. It hadn’t been like the other times—it wasn’t passion, wasn’t love. It was something else entirely. Dehumanizing, humiliating. But Erik had pushed his feelings aside because he deserved it. He deserved that pain and that hate.
And if—if—he really was pregnant, there was no question. It was Charles’s.
He snapped out of his thoughts, grabbing the pregnancy test with shaking hands before making his way to the checkout. He paid quickly and left, his heart pounding the entire way back to the hotel.
Once inside, he dropped the groceries onto the table and stared at the test in his hand. His grip tightened around it as he made his way to the bathroom, but the closer he got, the more his body resisted. He didn’t want to know.
How utterly humiliating this was.
How shameful.
If Shaw were still alive to see this, he would have loved it. That thought alone made Erik sick.
Taking a few steadying breaths, Erik forced himself to take the test. Once done, he placed it on the bathroom counter and stepped back, pacing the small space with restless energy. His entire body buzzed with nerves, his pulse hammering in his ears.
A minute passed. Then another.
Finally, he forced himself to walk back over. His hands felt unsteady as he reached for the test, his breath caught in his throat.
Positive.
A sharp German curse slipped past his lips as his legs gave out beneath him. He sank to the floor, pressing his back against the wall, his face buried in his hands.