[anibus3]

"No, he didn't. It hurts but it's not gonna kill me." James answered, getting the peroxide off and the blood.

[gre-y]

"I'm sorry," Charlie said. Cat scratches hurt! Cat bites, too, but not as much. Cat bites leave little marks, but scratches get puffy and pink and itchy.

[anibus3]

"It's fine just...keep em away from me for the rest of the day." James requested.

[gre-y]

He nodded. "Of course." And he left the room to go make some breakfast.

[anibus3]

Cats were a pain, course this was coming from the man who never had any pets growing up. So what the hell did he know on this matter? Once done in the bathroom, he left and gave a sigh. Alright time for work.

"Once we're done with breakfest, we need to do some more measurements. Alright?" James said.

[gre-y]

"uGH, again?" Charlie whined. "We do it like every day, I don't think there will be any changes after once day," he said while poking at the eggs he was cooking.

[anibus3]

"Considering you could be due at any time and any day now along with this being important then YES!" James retorted as he stood there. "HOnestly, there could be so many changes overnight that it's not funny."

[gre-y]

"Okay okayy I get it," he grumbled, shoving eggs onto two plates. He always gave in.
"I don't know, though, it doesn't seem any different right now."

[anibus3]

James sighed.

"Fine we won't do it then." James replied as he took a seat, glancing away from CHarlie.

[gre-y]

"No no we can do it.." He took a few bites.
"I'm sorry.. I'm just.. Everything is really annoying me right now. literally everything.." He admitted.

[anibus3]

"That's what mood swings do." James replied.

A few more months passed and CHarlie had the child they were expecting. It was nice to see that they were well and healthy, though James left Charlie be as they took to trying to care for their own child. James was debating on publishing his work or not, while the formula would help many...would it be worth it? He didn't perform this on a female so what if it didn't work on females? The snow was falling outside and the man shuddered, feeling slightly cold in his basement due to the winter weather outside.

[gre-y]

The kid they had been waiting for turned out to be a little boy, which Charlie named Ben. Ben was a pretty cute baby, but looked like Charlie. Pale skin. Same hair, and same green eyes. He refused to tell anyone where he came from, and would only tell if James decided to publish the experiment. For a few days now, Charlie had been thinking about surprising James to test out the experiment again. While Ben slept in his crib upstairs, Charlie walked down with two mugs of hot chocolate. "Hey, it's cold down here, so I brought ya something." He said, handing James the cup with the spiked drink.

[anibus3]

"KInd of wish I had a fur coat...." James answered as he accepted the hot chocolate. "Thank you."

Blowing on it to cool it a little bit, he took a drink. Though a confused expression came to his face.

"What flavor is this? Doesn't really taste like chocolate that much.." James asked.

The chocolate flavor had been diluted due to the formula that was poured into it, though the man didn't know that. If he had, he wouldn't have taken another drink.

"Never mind, so how's the kid?" James asked.

[gre-y]

"Just put on a hoodie. We should probably get a heater for down here, though. It gets so damn cold. Ah you're welcome," he said. He sipped his own hot drink, hiding a little smirk.
"Oh, I bought a new brand of hot chocolate. Maybe I didn't put enough powder in," he shrugged. But he knew what he did.
"Ben is good. He's going through a growth spurt right now, so he's eating and sleeping a lot lately," he explained. He was proud of his little boy.

[anibus3]

"Maybe later, I'm trying to figure something out." James replied.

Another sip from the drink and the man shrugged, though their stomach started to feel a bit odd. A different brand huh? Very strange.

"Could be." James replied. "That's good, at least they're growing good and well."

[gre-y]

Charlie nodded, playing along with the conversation, just waiting to see how long until the formula would take effect. He wondered if he would figure it out right away, or if he would have to tell him what happened.
"So what have you been working on down here?" He asked curiously. "It's been awhile since I've been trying to do an experiment."

[anibus3]

"Trying to figure out what I should do with my experiment." James answered wincing a bit as a pain hit his stomach an he felt sick. "I honestly doubt anyone would listen to me if I did...."

The man set the hot chocolate down and put his face in one hand. The sick feeling was getting worse an honestly, he was just wanting it to go away. He should've realized what was wrong but he was so unsure on what to do with his own findings that he wasn't recognizing the signs that he jotted down in his own notes.

[gre-y]

"well, get it out there! We have proof that it works! Ben is proof that it did." Charlie said excitedly. This could change a lot of things in society, and also they would get money from it. His family had always been poor so he wanted to help them out in any way he could.
He noticed his friend not looking so good. "Hey are you alright?"

[anibus3]

"IT's not that simple!!" James retorted. "They'd want to inspect Ben too you know!! They might want to see if he operates just like every other kid or if there is something special to him. I can't subject your kid to that all just to....get my own project out there."

The man wrapped a hand aroun his stomach as he sat there, and while he heard the man's words. He took a deep breathe as he sat there. Sitting up, he glanced to em.

"I could be coming down with something due to the cold air.." James replied though his eyes went a bit wide as a new feeling hit him.

HIs stomach...he felt it push itself out and not by a little bit. THe bump pushed forward until it rounded out and he looked bigger than Charlie had when they started. It finally kicked in his head.

"CHARLIE!!" James snapped shooting a glare to em.

[gre-y]

"Oh.. you're right.." Charlie didn't think about Ben getting taken away. It wasn't worth it right now. They would take him away to do testing and stuff.

"Yeah, it could be a cold.." He agreed, knowing the truth. He looked down at James's stomach as it pushed out. He nearly jumped out of his seat. "Okay okay, yeah, I did that, but I did NOT think that was going to happen like.. like THAT!" He said surprised. "Oh geez that was fast oh my god.." He said, walking over. He tugged up his shirt. "Okay either there's a lot of babies, or you're just growing really fast.."