Unsympathetic - part 3
Series: Sympathetic
Title: Unsympathetic - part 3
Rating: PG13
Warnings: mpreg, overuse of medical terminology
Summary: Steve digests the news. He's not happy.
Steve stares at the ultrasound pictures a little more. Then he looks at Danny. “So you’re really-”
“Harboring a fetus, yes.” Danny interrupts him. He’s not quite ready to say the word pregnant, or hear Steve say it for that matter. He’s secure in his masculinity, but maybe not that secure. He doubts any man is.
Steve’s silent again, but Danny can practically see the gears turning in his head. Even Mr. Navy SEAL is going to need a little time to digest the fact that he managed to knock up a man, so Danny lets him stew a little and turns back to Davis. “So…now what happens?”
The doctor looks eager, like he’s about to rub his hands together in excitement. “Well,” he says, “when faced with an unknown medical condition, we take things one step at a time. The most important questions right now are how this is affecting your health and what allowed it to happen in the first place. So our first step will be to do some tests.”
Danny takes a swallow of his coffee and regrets it instantly. Now it’s lukewarm as well as bad. “What kind of tests are we talking about?”
“Bloodwork first. Your complete blood count and differential. Your ESR, or sedimentation rate, that’s a marker for inflammation. Renal panel, liver panel, lipid panel, blood glucose…all the things we would normally measure to asses someone’s general health.”
Alright, he can deal with that. He’s had complete physicals before; they did pretty much the same then. “What else?”
“Genetic testing.”
Danny frowns.
“On you, not the fetus.” Davis hurries to assure him. “I assume you are somewhat familiar with genetics?”
“Somewhat yeah.” Being a detective pretty much ensures you know at least the basics about DNA and such.
“You know that DNA forms organized structures called chromosomes and humans have 23 pairs of these, 22 pairs of regular chromosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes that contain the genetic traits linked to a person’s sex. Women have two of the same kind of sex chromosome, called X. Men have two different sex chromosomes. One X and one called Y. When the female and male cells combine there two options. You either get an XY combination and a boy is born, or an XX combination for a girl.”
Davis gives him a look to see if he’s still following and Danny nods. So far he hasn’t heard anything he didn’t already know.
The doctor continues. “But it’s not always that simple. There are for example cases where people get XXY, Klinefelter’s syndrome, or XYY syndrome. Now, based on your physical appearance you have neither of these, but those examples illustrate that the chromosomal sex isn’t set in stone. There are even people who have two X chromosomes, so they are genetically women, but they are born male and have all male sexual characteristics and the only thing that really distinguishes them from other men is infertility. In your case we are going to check whether we can find any chromosomal disorder or anomaly that could be the cause for your current situation.”
“Something like that wouldn’t have come up during physicals before now?”
Davis shakes his head. “No, these types of genetic anomalies aren’t discovered unless they’re specifically looked for. Usually these cases present with an ambiguous development of sexual organs, significantly smaller external sexual organs for example, or presenting with both a penis and vagina.”
Danny blinks. “Like some sort of hermaphrodite?”
“I believe the latest term used is ‘intersex’. Apparently there were never reasons to look for such an anomaly in your case, so I’m assuming everything on the outside,” Davis looks down meaningfully, “is normal.”
Next to Danny Steve snorts. “It is,” he assures the doctor. “Not ambiguous at all.”
The corner of Davis’s mouth twitches up at that but he quickly gets serious again. “Well, what we’ve seen on the inside is certainly a reason to look in into it. First and foremost though, we need to look at your health.”
His health... Danny asks the question that’s been running through his mind for a while now. “Doc, is it even possible? To actually carry the fetus to term I mean.”
Davis gives him an apologetic look. “Right now, I don’t know. Early development seems to have progressed the same way it would in any normal pregnancy, but there is no way of knowing if your body is capable of sustaining a suitable environment for the fetus to grow, and if it’s capable of handling the stress to your body. We would need to see on a day by day, week by week basis.”
Davis looks at him seriously. “That is, if you want try this. There is always the option of abortion. And I can pretty much guarantee you that in your case abortion would be the safer option.”
Danny looks down, rubs his hands over his face and breathes deeply. Maybe abortion should have been his first thought. It's the logical thing to do after all. But in all honesty, removing it hasn’t really crossed his mind. Not since it stopped being a parasite and became something else altogether. And he keeps remembering Rachel’s first ultrasound…Gracie moving around just like the gummy-bear.
When he looks up Steve is studying him with a frown. “You want to keep it.” he says.
It’s a statement, not a question and damn the man for being observant because Danny’s not sure he’s ready for this conversation.
When Danny doesn’t answer immediately Steve looks away for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “I don’t like it.”
And yeah, with all of Steve’s issues maybe Danny should have seen that one coming, but it still stings. Because somehow, in the past hour, he’s gotten attached already and it hurts that Steve doesn’t want this with him. Suddenly Steve’s hand on his feels restrictive instead of comforting and he tries to pull his hand away.
Steve won’t let him.
He squeezes Danny’s hand, almost to the point of it being painful. “Danny,” he says, “it’s not-” he trails off.
Danny can see the wheels spinning again. Maybe because Steve’s getting his thoughts in order, maybe because he’s searching for the words to tell him something he doesn’t want to hear. Danny’s not sure. “Steve-”
“No. Just…let me say this okay? It’s not because I wouldn’t want to have a kid with you. What we have…I was sort of planning for that to be it for the rest of my life and that meant no kids other than Gracie. At least, I thought it did. So this is a surprise. A big surprise. And I have to get used to the idea, but us having a kid together is not the thing I have a problem with. You dying because of this…that’s what’s putting me off. Because that throws a big fucking wrench in the whole ‘growing old together’ plan.”
Danny’s eyes start to sting just a little and he blinks quickly, because Steve may suck with words but every now and then he manages to say something that hits Danny like a kick in the gut anyway. He’s suddenly a little lost for words so instead he squeezes Steve’s hand back. Steve’s good with non-verbal communication. He’ll get the message.
There’s one little flaw in Steve’s logic though. “Babe, we risk our lives every day.”
Steve gives him a helpless look. “That’s different.”
And that’s pretty much the problem right there, Danny thinks. Out there, in the field, Steve has control. He likes to think so anyway. In Steve’s mind, his own actions pretty much decide the outcome of any given situation. In here, Steve has no control. If anything goes wrong he’s helpless, unable to do anything about it. Pretty much Steve’s biggest nightmare.
Davis jumps in. “Well Mr. McGarret, maybe I can reassure you a bit. As I said, we don’t know what will happen, whether your partner’s body will be able to sustain the pregnancy, whether the fetus will continue to develop normally…but the fact that we know what’s happening reduces the risks significantly. If you decide to continue with this we will be monitoring your partner’s health extremely closely. Should it take a turn for the worse we will be able to react very quickly.”
“And,” he continues, “keep in mind that you both do not have to decide about this right now. Your partner has carried the fetus for nine weeks already, without any apparent adverse effects on his health aside from morning sickness.”
Danny sees and feels Steve relax a little at that.
Another question, a rather uncomfortable question, pops into his mind. “How would it come out?”
“That would have to be through a C-section." Davis says. "The male pelvis isn’t fit for childbirth. The opening in the female pelvis is larger, the channel is shorter en the walls of the pelvis are more parallel to make birthing a child possible. Even if the womb is connected to the colon and there would theoretically be ‘a way out’ so to speak. The baby wouldn’t fit through the pelvis. And aside from that the colon and the rectum aren’t meant to accommodate something the size of a fully formed baby.
Danny shudders at the thought.
“Now the womb doesn’t know this,” Davis continues, “and will probably at some point start contractions. I think the safest bet would be to plan a C-section sometime well before you are due. The baby might be premature but I believe the risks to both your health and the baby’s health will be smaller. Nowadays we have great success caring for early births. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is a long way to go before that time.”
“What about hormones” Steve blurts out. “How is that going to work? Can he even make the hormones needed to keep up a…pregnancy?”
Steve winces a little at the word. Danny’s glad he isn’t the only one who’s a little uncomfortable with the term.
“Well,” Davis says, “the hormones that we traditionally know as female hormones are very important during pregnancy. There are estrogen, progesterone and prolactin, among others. Most people assume those hormones belong specifically to the female sex, but that’s not true. Just like women produce testosterone, which they need for their bones, their sex-drive and many other functions, men naturally produce estrogens. The same goes for progesterone. Progesterone is made in men by the adrenal glands and testes. Even prolactin occurs naturally in the male body, produced by different sources including the pituitary and the prostate gland.”
Well…that's news to Danny.
“So,” Davis continues. “Danny’s body is certainly capable of creating these hormones and reacting to them. However, if things proceed as they would during a normal pregnancy he’s going to have to deal with far greater amounts of these hormones circulating through his body than normal. This is because the placenta -and since we have a living fetus, I’m assuming there is one- will start producing hormones too, including progesterone and estrogens. Particularly the amount of estrogen will be extremely high compared to the amounts normally present in the male body.”
“Bitch tits and shrunken balls.” Steve mutters suddenly. He’s staring ahead, non-seeing, like he’s remembering something.
“Excuse me?” Danny says pointedly, because what the hell?
Steve’s head jerks up, back in the here and now, and he flushes.
Davis gives him a sharp look.
“I read about it,” Steve says quickly, with a shifty look at the doctor.
He’s so obviously lying, it’s almost funny.
Davis’s eyes narrow a little. “You’re not entirely wrong, although those two come about through different-”
“Hey!” Danny interrupts. “What are we talking about here? If we’re talking about symptoms I’d like to be informed you know, seeing as I’d be the one getting them.” They’re talking about his balls here. Anything that affects them, he wants to know about.
Davis looks at him. “I believe your partner is referring to the side-effects of anabolic steroid use.”
Danny’s confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Both symptoms he mentioned can be a result of increased estrogen levels. When body builders or other strength athletes take anabolic steroids, androgens, they need very high dosages, much higher than naturally occur in the body. Androgens can aromatize in the body into estrogens. The higher estrogen levels can then lead to gynaecomastia, growing glandular tissue in a man’s breast. Or ‘bitch tits’, as your partner so expressively put it.”
Steve has the decency to look embarrassed.
“Testicular atrophy, or ‘shrinking balls’ is another side-effect of taking androgens. The hypothalamus in your brain has a mechanism that regulates the release of many hormones, including the hormones that stimulate your testes to produce testosterone. If this mechanism detects high amounts of androgens, which it recognizes as testosterone, then the hypothalamus will produce less of the hormones that are responsible for testosterone release, to keep the balance. So because body builders use an external source of testosterone, their brain tells their own body to stop producing it. They will decrease or stop the production of natural testosterone and their balls will shrink. Estrogen has the same inhibiting effect on the hypothalamus, so high estrogen levels will have the same effect.”
Holy shit. “So, let me get this straight, if I go through with this…my balls are going to shrink? How much shrinkage are we talking about? Is it reversible? Will I still be able to get it up? Will it-”
Davis holds up his hands to stop the flow of words. “Calm down, Danny, because here comes the really interesting part…In order to stop their balls from shrinking, many body builders take the hormone HCG, Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin. HCG acts directly on the testes and keeps natural testosterone production going. Now, HCG is purified from the urine of pregnant women. Why? Because it is secreted by the placenta. Do you see what I’m getting at Danny?”
Maybe. “I’m making my own medine?”
“Yes,” Davis sits back in his chair, looking satisfied. “I believe that the HCG produced by the placenta will counteract the negative effects of the estrogen it produces.”
Well, that’s a relief. “What about the gyna-thingy, the bitch tits?”
“Unavoidable”
Well shit.
“With the high estrogen levels, and later on the prolactin, some growth of glandular breast tissue is inevitable. But this should be completely reversible.”
“Good. That’s good.” Danny throws a look at Steve.
Steve, who is sitting there quietly, entirely content not to be noticed, and Danny remembers how they got on the bitch tits, shrunken balls subject. “Hey,” he nudges Steve. “You haven’t used steroids, have you?” It was hard to imagine Steve, Mr. my body is my temple, doing something like that.
“No.”
Danny gives Steve an unimpressed look, because really, if he thinks he’s going to get away with an answer like that, he’s ‘gone round the bend’, as Rachel likes to say.
Steve ignores the look for a few seconds before slumping a little in his seat. “When we were in training,” he says, “there was a lot of pressure…to get stronger…lot of competition. It was rough, and one of us…he knew someone who used. We talked about it. Not just chatting. Seriously discussing how to get it, how much to use…I guess we were overheard and someone blabbed, because out of the blue the next week our training officer gave a talk about the effects of anabolic steroids. He had pictures and everything.”
“Bitch tits and shrunken balls?”
“His exact words. After that the steroids didn’t seem all that appealing anymore.”
Danny squeezes Steve’s hand. “I’m glad.” Then he leans over and whispers. “I like your balls just the way they are.” He’s sure Davis heard the words anyway, but figures the doctor will be polite enough to pretend he didn’t.
He turns back to the doctor. “So, aside from a case of man boobs, anything else I should be looking forward to?”
“Well, sorry to have to say this, but with heightened estrogen levels, you may also experience the joys of increased fat deposits, loss of muscle tone, fatigue, and lets not forget about low stress tolerance, mood swings, agitation and irritability.”
Steve suddenly perks up. “Hey doc,” he says, and he’s got the look on his face that says he’s about to blow something up, “with those extra organs being inside his body…is it possible that he’s had higher estrogen levels before now?”
Davis raises an eyebrow. “It’s possible.”
Next to Danny, Steve’s body twitches. And keeps twitching. And he’s stopped breathing. And Danny is going to kill him. “Fuck you, Steven.” He says succinctly
Steve barks out a short laugh before reigning himself back in. He’s biting his lip and slowly turning an alarming shade of red.
Danny pulls his hand away and smack Steve’s arm. “Alright, you ass. Let it out before you give yourself a brainbleed.”
And Steve laughs. “I told you.” He cackles. “I said it the very first day we met.” And he keeps laughing. “I told you-” he takes a gasping breath, “told you you were sensitive.”
He wants to be angry, should be angry, but in the face of Steve’s mirth he can’t keep a smile from creeping up his own face.
“You see what I have to deal with every day?” He tells Davis. “The first day we met, he threatens me with a gun, gets me shot, nearly breaks my arm. And then he tells me my wife left me because I’m too sensitive.”
Davis is snickering, Steve can’t stop laughing, and Danny grins. They’re going to be okay.
Title: Unsympathetic - part 3
Rating: PG13
Warnings: mpreg, overuse of medical terminology
Summary: Steve digests the news. He's not happy.
Steve stares at the ultrasound pictures a little more. Then he looks at Danny. “So you’re really-”
“Harboring a fetus, yes.” Danny interrupts him. He’s not quite ready to say the word pregnant, or hear Steve say it for that matter. He’s secure in his masculinity, but maybe not that secure. He doubts any man is.
Steve’s silent again, but Danny can practically see the gears turning in his head. Even Mr. Navy SEAL is going to need a little time to digest the fact that he managed to knock up a man, so Danny lets him stew a little and turns back to Davis. “So…now what happens?”
The doctor looks eager, like he’s about to rub his hands together in excitement. “Well,” he says, “when faced with an unknown medical condition, we take things one step at a time. The most important questions right now are how this is affecting your health and what allowed it to happen in the first place. So our first step will be to do some tests.”
Danny takes a swallow of his coffee and regrets it instantly. Now it’s lukewarm as well as bad. “What kind of tests are we talking about?”
“Bloodwork first. Your complete blood count and differential. Your ESR, or sedimentation rate, that’s a marker for inflammation. Renal panel, liver panel, lipid panel, blood glucose…all the things we would normally measure to asses someone’s general health.”
Alright, he can deal with that. He’s had complete physicals before; they did pretty much the same then. “What else?”
“Genetic testing.”
Danny frowns.
“On you, not the fetus.” Davis hurries to assure him. “I assume you are somewhat familiar with genetics?”
“Somewhat yeah.” Being a detective pretty much ensures you know at least the basics about DNA and such.
“You know that DNA forms organized structures called chromosomes and humans have 23 pairs of these, 22 pairs of regular chromosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes that contain the genetic traits linked to a person’s sex. Women have two of the same kind of sex chromosome, called X. Men have two different sex chromosomes. One X and one called Y. When the female and male cells combine there two options. You either get an XY combination and a boy is born, or an XX combination for a girl.”
Davis gives him a look to see if he’s still following and Danny nods. So far he hasn’t heard anything he didn’t already know.
The doctor continues. “But it’s not always that simple. There are for example cases where people get XXY, Klinefelter’s syndrome, or XYY syndrome. Now, based on your physical appearance you have neither of these, but those examples illustrate that the chromosomal sex isn’t set in stone. There are even people who have two X chromosomes, so they are genetically women, but they are born male and have all male sexual characteristics and the only thing that really distinguishes them from other men is infertility. In your case we are going to check whether we can find any chromosomal disorder or anomaly that could be the cause for your current situation.”
“Something like that wouldn’t have come up during physicals before now?”
Davis shakes his head. “No, these types of genetic anomalies aren’t discovered unless they’re specifically looked for. Usually these cases present with an ambiguous development of sexual organs, significantly smaller external sexual organs for example, or presenting with both a penis and vagina.”
Danny blinks. “Like some sort of hermaphrodite?”
“I believe the latest term used is ‘intersex’. Apparently there were never reasons to look for such an anomaly in your case, so I’m assuming everything on the outside,” Davis looks down meaningfully, “is normal.”
Next to Danny Steve snorts. “It is,” he assures the doctor. “Not ambiguous at all.”
The corner of Davis’s mouth twitches up at that but he quickly gets serious again. “Well, what we’ve seen on the inside is certainly a reason to look in into it. First and foremost though, we need to look at your health.”
His health... Danny asks the question that’s been running through his mind for a while now. “Doc, is it even possible? To actually carry the fetus to term I mean.”
Davis gives him an apologetic look. “Right now, I don’t know. Early development seems to have progressed the same way it would in any normal pregnancy, but there is no way of knowing if your body is capable of sustaining a suitable environment for the fetus to grow, and if it’s capable of handling the stress to your body. We would need to see on a day by day, week by week basis.”
Davis looks at him seriously. “That is, if you want try this. There is always the option of abortion. And I can pretty much guarantee you that in your case abortion would be the safer option.”
Danny looks down, rubs his hands over his face and breathes deeply. Maybe abortion should have been his first thought. It's the logical thing to do after all. But in all honesty, removing it hasn’t really crossed his mind. Not since it stopped being a parasite and became something else altogether. And he keeps remembering Rachel’s first ultrasound…Gracie moving around just like the gummy-bear.
When he looks up Steve is studying him with a frown. “You want to keep it.” he says.
It’s a statement, not a question and damn the man for being observant because Danny’s not sure he’s ready for this conversation.
When Danny doesn’t answer immediately Steve looks away for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “I don’t like it.”
And yeah, with all of Steve’s issues maybe Danny should have seen that one coming, but it still stings. Because somehow, in the past hour, he’s gotten attached already and it hurts that Steve doesn’t want this with him. Suddenly Steve’s hand on his feels restrictive instead of comforting and he tries to pull his hand away.
Steve won’t let him.
He squeezes Danny’s hand, almost to the point of it being painful. “Danny,” he says, “it’s not-” he trails off.
Danny can see the wheels spinning again. Maybe because Steve’s getting his thoughts in order, maybe because he’s searching for the words to tell him something he doesn’t want to hear. Danny’s not sure. “Steve-”
“No. Just…let me say this okay? It’s not because I wouldn’t want to have a kid with you. What we have…I was sort of planning for that to be it for the rest of my life and that meant no kids other than Gracie. At least, I thought it did. So this is a surprise. A big surprise. And I have to get used to the idea, but us having a kid together is not the thing I have a problem with. You dying because of this…that’s what’s putting me off. Because that throws a big fucking wrench in the whole ‘growing old together’ plan.”
Danny’s eyes start to sting just a little and he blinks quickly, because Steve may suck with words but every now and then he manages to say something that hits Danny like a kick in the gut anyway. He’s suddenly a little lost for words so instead he squeezes Steve’s hand back. Steve’s good with non-verbal communication. He’ll get the message.
There’s one little flaw in Steve’s logic though. “Babe, we risk our lives every day.”
Steve gives him a helpless look. “That’s different.”
And that’s pretty much the problem right there, Danny thinks. Out there, in the field, Steve has control. He likes to think so anyway. In Steve’s mind, his own actions pretty much decide the outcome of any given situation. In here, Steve has no control. If anything goes wrong he’s helpless, unable to do anything about it. Pretty much Steve’s biggest nightmare.
Davis jumps in. “Well Mr. McGarret, maybe I can reassure you a bit. As I said, we don’t know what will happen, whether your partner’s body will be able to sustain the pregnancy, whether the fetus will continue to develop normally…but the fact that we know what’s happening reduces the risks significantly. If you decide to continue with this we will be monitoring your partner’s health extremely closely. Should it take a turn for the worse we will be able to react very quickly.”
“And,” he continues, “keep in mind that you both do not have to decide about this right now. Your partner has carried the fetus for nine weeks already, without any apparent adverse effects on his health aside from morning sickness.”
Danny sees and feels Steve relax a little at that.
Another question, a rather uncomfortable question, pops into his mind. “How would it come out?”
“That would have to be through a C-section." Davis says. "The male pelvis isn’t fit for childbirth. The opening in the female pelvis is larger, the channel is shorter en the walls of the pelvis are more parallel to make birthing a child possible. Even if the womb is connected to the colon and there would theoretically be ‘a way out’ so to speak. The baby wouldn’t fit through the pelvis. And aside from that the colon and the rectum aren’t meant to accommodate something the size of a fully formed baby.
Danny shudders at the thought.
“Now the womb doesn’t know this,” Davis continues, “and will probably at some point start contractions. I think the safest bet would be to plan a C-section sometime well before you are due. The baby might be premature but I believe the risks to both your health and the baby’s health will be smaller. Nowadays we have great success caring for early births. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There is a long way to go before that time.”
“What about hormones” Steve blurts out. “How is that going to work? Can he even make the hormones needed to keep up a…pregnancy?”
Steve winces a little at the word. Danny’s glad he isn’t the only one who’s a little uncomfortable with the term.
“Well,” Davis says, “the hormones that we traditionally know as female hormones are very important during pregnancy. There are estrogen, progesterone and prolactin, among others. Most people assume those hormones belong specifically to the female sex, but that’s not true. Just like women produce testosterone, which they need for their bones, their sex-drive and many other functions, men naturally produce estrogens. The same goes for progesterone. Progesterone is made in men by the adrenal glands and testes. Even prolactin occurs naturally in the male body, produced by different sources including the pituitary and the prostate gland.”
Well…that's news to Danny.
“So,” Davis continues. “Danny’s body is certainly capable of creating these hormones and reacting to them. However, if things proceed as they would during a normal pregnancy he’s going to have to deal with far greater amounts of these hormones circulating through his body than normal. This is because the placenta -and since we have a living fetus, I’m assuming there is one- will start producing hormones too, including progesterone and estrogens. Particularly the amount of estrogen will be extremely high compared to the amounts normally present in the male body.”
“Bitch tits and shrunken balls.” Steve mutters suddenly. He’s staring ahead, non-seeing, like he’s remembering something.
“Excuse me?” Danny says pointedly, because what the hell?
Steve’s head jerks up, back in the here and now, and he flushes.
Davis gives him a sharp look.
“I read about it,” Steve says quickly, with a shifty look at the doctor.
He’s so obviously lying, it’s almost funny.
Davis’s eyes narrow a little. “You’re not entirely wrong, although those two come about through different-”
“Hey!” Danny interrupts. “What are we talking about here? If we’re talking about symptoms I’d like to be informed you know, seeing as I’d be the one getting them.” They’re talking about his balls here. Anything that affects them, he wants to know about.
Davis looks at him. “I believe your partner is referring to the side-effects of anabolic steroid use.”
Danny’s confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Both symptoms he mentioned can be a result of increased estrogen levels. When body builders or other strength athletes take anabolic steroids, androgens, they need very high dosages, much higher than naturally occur in the body. Androgens can aromatize in the body into estrogens. The higher estrogen levels can then lead to gynaecomastia, growing glandular tissue in a man’s breast. Or ‘bitch tits’, as your partner so expressively put it.”
Steve has the decency to look embarrassed.
“Testicular atrophy, or ‘shrinking balls’ is another side-effect of taking androgens. The hypothalamus in your brain has a mechanism that regulates the release of many hormones, including the hormones that stimulate your testes to produce testosterone. If this mechanism detects high amounts of androgens, which it recognizes as testosterone, then the hypothalamus will produce less of the hormones that are responsible for testosterone release, to keep the balance. So because body builders use an external source of testosterone, their brain tells their own body to stop producing it. They will decrease or stop the production of natural testosterone and their balls will shrink. Estrogen has the same inhibiting effect on the hypothalamus, so high estrogen levels will have the same effect.”
Holy shit. “So, let me get this straight, if I go through with this…my balls are going to shrink? How much shrinkage are we talking about? Is it reversible? Will I still be able to get it up? Will it-”
Davis holds up his hands to stop the flow of words. “Calm down, Danny, because here comes the really interesting part…In order to stop their balls from shrinking, many body builders take the hormone HCG, Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin. HCG acts directly on the testes and keeps natural testosterone production going. Now, HCG is purified from the urine of pregnant women. Why? Because it is secreted by the placenta. Do you see what I’m getting at Danny?”
Maybe. “I’m making my own medine?”
“Yes,” Davis sits back in his chair, looking satisfied. “I believe that the HCG produced by the placenta will counteract the negative effects of the estrogen it produces.”
Well, that’s a relief. “What about the gyna-thingy, the bitch tits?”
“Unavoidable”
Well shit.
“With the high estrogen levels, and later on the prolactin, some growth of glandular breast tissue is inevitable. But this should be completely reversible.”
“Good. That’s good.” Danny throws a look at Steve.
Steve, who is sitting there quietly, entirely content not to be noticed, and Danny remembers how they got on the bitch tits, shrunken balls subject. “Hey,” he nudges Steve. “You haven’t used steroids, have you?” It was hard to imagine Steve, Mr. my body is my temple, doing something like that.
“No.”
Danny gives Steve an unimpressed look, because really, if he thinks he’s going to get away with an answer like that, he’s ‘gone round the bend’, as Rachel likes to say.
Steve ignores the look for a few seconds before slumping a little in his seat. “When we were in training,” he says, “there was a lot of pressure…to get stronger…lot of competition. It was rough, and one of us…he knew someone who used. We talked about it. Not just chatting. Seriously discussing how to get it, how much to use…I guess we were overheard and someone blabbed, because out of the blue the next week our training officer gave a talk about the effects of anabolic steroids. He had pictures and everything.”
“Bitch tits and shrunken balls?”
“His exact words. After that the steroids didn’t seem all that appealing anymore.”
Danny squeezes Steve’s hand. “I’m glad.” Then he leans over and whispers. “I like your balls just the way they are.” He’s sure Davis heard the words anyway, but figures the doctor will be polite enough to pretend he didn’t.
He turns back to the doctor. “So, aside from a case of man boobs, anything else I should be looking forward to?”
“Well, sorry to have to say this, but with heightened estrogen levels, you may also experience the joys of increased fat deposits, loss of muscle tone, fatigue, and lets not forget about low stress tolerance, mood swings, agitation and irritability.”
Steve suddenly perks up. “Hey doc,” he says, and he’s got the look on his face that says he’s about to blow something up, “with those extra organs being inside his body…is it possible that he’s had higher estrogen levels before now?”
Davis raises an eyebrow. “It’s possible.”
Next to Danny, Steve’s body twitches. And keeps twitching. And he’s stopped breathing. And Danny is going to kill him. “Fuck you, Steven.” He says succinctly
Steve barks out a short laugh before reigning himself back in. He’s biting his lip and slowly turning an alarming shade of red.
Danny pulls his hand away and smack Steve’s arm. “Alright, you ass. Let it out before you give yourself a brainbleed.”
And Steve laughs. “I told you.” He cackles. “I said it the very first day we met.” And he keeps laughing. “I told you-” he takes a gasping breath, “told you you were sensitive.”
He wants to be angry, should be angry, but in the face of Steve’s mirth he can’t keep a smile from creeping up his own face.
“You see what I have to deal with every day?” He tells Davis. “The first day we met, he threatens me with a gun, gets me shot, nearly breaks my arm. And then he tells me my wife left me because I’m too sensitive.”
Davis is snickering, Steve can’t stop laughing, and Danny grins. They’re going to be okay.