[lxcttrll]

Nikolaos Spiros, just Nick to friends, hadn't been born with these powers. Most supers had, or they'd willingly gotten them. Nick had just been bitten by a spider, and it changed his whole body chemistry. It took some getting used to, but eventually, Nick learned to work with it, and donned the persona of the Ice Crawler. The spider that had bitten him had been exposed to extremely low temperatures, and the ice powers transferred over to Nick. It made summer pretty unbearable, but he was bale to cool himself off when need be. His suit was light gray, with light blue webbing alongside it. The light colors of the suit worked with his light hair, skin, and eyes, but they hadn't always been like that. His skin used to have a nice tan, and he had dark hair and eyes. The spider bite seemed to drain his body of all color.

He hadn't spoken to his family in months. He doubted they would recognize him, as he looked like an albino, a stark contrast to the rest of his Greek family. Nick mostly stayed in hotels or cheap apartments (though he was regularly evicted), and thankfully didn't need to sleep much due to the energy his powers gave him. Nick was relatively content, fighting crime and keeping people safe. He'd used to have aspirations to be a policeman and this was the next best thing.

Soon, however, Nick met another hero. Nick, of course, kept his identity hidden, having seen the missing persons posters all over the city. He formed a relationship with the other hero (although he really hadn't meant to), and they slept together all the time. They always had sex in the dark, though, with Nick wanting his privacy. Though, whenever he really thought about his situation, no one would recognize him compared to the way he looked before.

A few months into this odd fling, Nick started feeling off. He still wasn't completely used to his powers, but he knew enough to the point where he could tell when something was wrong. He didn't want to go to a doctor, so, stupid as it may be, Nick looked up his symptoms. The results told him that he may be pregnant, and while Nick seriously doubted that, he took a pregnancy test anyway. 

And it came back positive.

Nick caved and found a clinic, getting an ultrasound that confirmed the test results. He knew that the father had to be the other hero, but knew nothing about him. Nick didn't even know his name! Not sure what else to do, Nick simply avoided the other hero, and tried to put the Ice Crawler away for a while. It wasn't a good idea to fight crime while pregnant, he knew that much. The pregnancy was pretty rough, anyway, Nick felt light-headed and nauseated almost constantly. There was no way he could fight crime like that. 

A month or two had passed since then, and Nick tried to stay under the radar. He kept up with the news, though, and watched as a new gang began to emerge. It was awful, watching people get hurt. It was a difficult decision, but Nick eventually decided to let the Ice Crawler out once again. Swinging through the city would have been pretty freeing if he didn't feel so terrible. Nick did what he could that night, though he soon had to rest on the top of a nearby building to catch his breath. He soon felt another wave of nausea, shuddering as he crawled to the edge of an empty flower pot and emptied the contents of his stomach, unaware of the footsteps behind him. 

[bhdire8]

In his own suit, Brad slowly came up from behind Nick. He snapped his shield back into the holder behind his back. He saw Nick while he was dealing with yet another gang fight caused by this new organisation, and came chasing after him as soon as he settled that fight. 

Under his deep blue suit, complete with a head mask that covered his head stretching over his eyes, the lower half of his face was out in the air.  Bradley H. Houston Jr. was the second son of the billionaire of this town.  He was born premature and spent much of his childhood in the hospital.  almost all doctors had concluded he wouldn't survive past his 18th birthday... IIn is desperate attempt to save his ailing son's life, his father invested heavily into the development of this serum. The product came out and Brad ended up getting this supersoldier serum that not only cured his multiple illnesses, but also got this power with him.

As this was all under a secret experimental effort, it wasn't supposed to be known by any one and he was kept away from the public's eye. his father attempted to hide him away, but ultimately he wanted to make this life himself and transformed into this super hero known as Lieutenant Percival. He had become attached to Nick..... close enough that they'd share passionate moments in the rain, int he backstreet, seeking each other out while the adrenaline was still running high after having deal with some bad guys. And at one particularly passionate moment.. they shared their first names.

Things came to an abrupt end when the Ice Crawler and his catchy silvery blonde hair disappeared from the backstreets.

He was rather desperate. To keep their identities hidden, he had had little ways to communicate with the other superheros. he'd roamed the streets attempting to find his lover - if he could so define the Ice Crawler - but he had no luck. until tonight.

"Nick...." he whispered, afraid he might startle the other man. The Ice Crawler was a smaller man than him, but they'd made an epic pair when fighting crimes with their almost complementary abilities. He could chase the criminals right into his webs, and there were more tactics they'd developed as the perfect working partners. "Where've you been..." he words died on his lips when he saw the obvious distress he was in.

"Are you ok?" he patted along his back. he had never seen the Ice Crawler this sick... "are you not feeling well?" he asked pulling him closer to himself. he'd never really heard any superheroes falling sick... so what's going on?

[lxcttrll]

Nick couldn't help but flinch at the sound of Brad's voice and the hand on his back, pulling his mask down and pushing Brad away. "Don't touch me, don't touch me," he groaned, crawling away weakly. Nick made sure Brad had never seen his face, not in full light, not wanting anyone to know who he was under the mask, even someone who he was having a child with.

"I'm fine, it's nothing," Nick mumbled, making sure his mask was properly in place so Brad couldn't see him. "Well, not... 'fine,' but it's normal. Kind of. Don't worry about it," he rambled, tugging his mask up enough to reveal his mouth so he could spit the foul taste out of his mouth.

[bhdire8]

The flinch was distinctly felt by Brad. He frowned at the way Nick moved away from him: he didnt remember they had any grudge between them last they parted...

"How can that be 'normal'..." he asked. The brief time that he could see the lower half of Nick's face, he could see how pale his lips were and that wasnt exactly reassuring. "Come on Nick, you know you can tell me. If you arent feeling well, I can get you to fhe clinic, the hospital..  whatever that you feel comfortable. I will leave you alone after." He said again coming.close to him. From what he saw, Nick was throwing up pretty badly and that couldnt be good.

He was coming close to him and noticed the strange swell under the skintight suit. It was a few months since he saw Nick and... it was rather strange seeing that potbelly all of a sudden.

[lxcttrll]

Nick watched Brad carefully, not wanting him to get too close. He knew the lieutenant could probably see the swell, that was one of the downsides of a skintight suit. Against his better judgement, Nick edged away from Brad once again and began to tell the truth.

"I'm pregnant, okay? And I know I shouldn't be fighting, but I can't just sit back and watch as people get hurt and I can do something about it," Nick confessed, not able to meet Brad's gaze. "The vomiting is normal, pregnant people vomit. It's not a big deal," he lied. He wasn't sure how normal it was to be throwing up near-constantly, but he knew some pregnancies were more difficult that others. Nick didn't dare say anything about the paternity of the baby, knowing Brad would probably figure it out.

[bhdire8]

"What did you just say!?" Brad gaped at Nick. Certianly he had a changed physique... but... "Y-you...you are a guy!" he exclaimed. Of course he knew intimately the gender of the Ice Crawler. Hell, he knew his body perhaps even better than his own with all the exploring they'd done no each other. "Y-you are... god. Are you sure!?" he said. As superheroes there were all sorts of strange things happening tot hem, but to hear him announcing he was pregnant was still a huge shock.

"Like... are you sure!" he looked at Nick's overalls again... now that he was looking closer, indeed that swell in his midsection was rather awkward.. "Y-you.... You've seen a doctor already right?" he had no doubt this baby was his... there was no other way. And that explained why Nick idsappeared all of a sudden. He again pressed forward to grab Nick's arm and pulled him closer. "Look, even if you're really pregnant, it wouldn't be normal to be still as nauseous correct? Morning sickness should be done as you appraoch the 2nd trimester...." he said pressing a hand on Nick's forehead - his elder brother had just had a kid and he was hearing his sister-in-law 'bragging' about all these symptoms for the past year. "Are you catching some other thing..? the flu maybe?" Somehow Nick felt a little thinner than he remembered... was this because of the morning sickness?


[lxcttrll]

"Yeah, I'm a guy. Haven't you kept up with the news?" Even with his powers as the Ice Crawler, a shocking phenomenon had been documented where men began to be able to carry children. It was deemed Carrier's Syndrome, and doctors were scrambling to figure out how to properly care for the sudden wave of pregnant men.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've got the ultrasound to prove it," Nick snapped, squirming when Brad began to touch him. His senses were in overload--he assumed it was because he was pregnant, and his Spidey senses were trying to compensate by going haywire. "I don't know, okay? I don't know shit, just quit fucking touching me!" Nick growled, shoving Brad's hands off of him. "I'll web you to a wall, okay? Stop touching me!"

[bhdire8]

Brad frowned at how Nick avoided his touches. Skinship was important to him and he liked that a lot. now that he realised Nick was carryign his baby, in a way this physical touch was his attempt in wanting to further their relationship. that blunt rejection affected him, but he respected Nick's personal space and took a step back.

"DOn't have to get so worked up... i mean... i hadn't run into pregnant guy myself and it still felt like arather strange idea to me." he said tryign to stay composed despite how furious Nick appeared to be.

"So what do we do now?" It was apparent Nick intended to keep the baby. Or else he wouldn't go into hiding. But then... what now? "I'm very willing to take up the responsibility... if not as more than that. we could... we could become something more certainly..." in a sense they were

(lol i struggled to find the right word - i mean, i wanna describe Brad as affectionate/cuddly - as in the sense that he liked physical touches (non-sexual ones), craved it even, as he developed relationship wiht others. It was important to him to establish that the person involved was returning his feelings. does that make sense? in the end i chose the word skinship - which i hope made sense to you...)

[lxcttrll]

((lol skinship... I don't think there's a single word for it, you might have been looking for physical contact/skin contact))

Nick shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Brad knowing more about his identity than he already did. Brad already knew his first name, and Nick already hated that. Though, he had to admit, a relationship with Brad would probably be pretty nice. Brad was a good guy, you didn't have to know about Lieutenant Percival to know Brad had a good heart.

"Fine," Nick finally spoke, sitting himself up a little straighter. "But once you're with me, you're not backing out. I can't have anyone running around knowing who's under the mask, got it?"

[bhdire8]

(haha i'm thinking physical contact's a little... inpersonal? anyway. LOL. the difficulty of doing translation when writing... i should really adjust to thinking in English...)

There's some kind of comedic effect in Nick's almost "bossy" words. Brad had to try hard to keep a straight face at that, nodding solemnly. "Ok, I promise I will not back out. This is my kid as well, there's no way I will back off." He said straightening himself more as well. to show his sincerity, he slowly peeled away his own mask. "to introduce myself again... I'm Bradley Houston. You, err, you might have seen me before on Entertainment?" Brad was sometimes victim of paparrazzis, who loved to photograph him with different celebrities.

"I can assure you i'm single!! and not a word of what they wrote was real." He added, eager to explain himself. "how would I have time to mingle with those socialites when i spent the better half of all nights on the streets, fighting crimes..." he sighed, giving more "proof" to his claim. 

[lxcttrll]

"Shit, I landed myself a Houston? I thought you looked familiar," Nick chuckled weakly. "We weren't exactly in a relationship, so I don't mind if you were with anyone else."

Nick hesitated before hooking a finger under his mask and pulling it off, nervously looking at the ground. "I'm Nikolaos Spiros. If you remember that Greek guy that went missing a few months ago, that's me," he explained. He looked pretty different from the pictures hung up around the city. While none of his actual facial features changed, his skin had gone pale, his eyes light, and his hair went from dark brown to silvery blond.

[bhdire8]

Brad blushed at the mentioning of hisfamily. Certainly there were a lot of news on them - mostly reports of his siblings and cousins doing all kinds of crazy stuff, he himself no excpetion.

"oh... oh!" His eyes widened at the mentioning of those news. "now that you said that... " he looked into the pale eyes of Nick and saw the resemblance. "Wow... is this change brought on by your superpower? do you.. miss your family?" he asked carefully: despite the affluent background, the familial bonding was strong with his immediate family.

[lxcttrll]

Nick shrugged weakly at the mention of his family, nodding. "Yeah, I miss them. My mom's really nice, my dad's a good guy, my sister's great. We were all really close, and I feel bad for leaving, but..." he trailed off before gesturing to his face. "Doubt I'd fit in anymore. They probably wouldn't recognize me if they saw me on the street."

[bhdire8]

Brad nodded slowly. He coudln't imagine the pain of needing to escape from his own family. He sighed and squared his shoulders. "doesn't matter.. we will build a family of our own. I wonder what our baby would be like with both our powers mixing in." he sighed. "Or maybe... i hope he or she wouldn't inherit that.With power comes that responsibility... i wish our child wouldn't need to bear such heavy burden."

He reached out a hand to shake his hand. "nice to meet you, Nick...." he smiled finally making the proper introductions. "And... where ar eyou living? i mean... i would want to visit from time to time. At least be there for you if you need any help...."

[lxcttrll]

"If they do inherit anything, we can handle it," Nick replied, though, truthfully, he didn't want their baby inheriting any powers. Even as an adult, the powers were hard to handle.

Nick shook Brad's hand, shifting uncomfortably at the sensation. "Well, uh," he stammered, looking away. "I don't really... I don't have a solid place. My job doesn't pay much, so I kind of drift from place to place. Usually motels, I can get an apartment from time to time but I can never seem to keep up with the rent..." Nick explained. It wasn't like he could go back to his parents and stay there or ask them for money, so he just drifted.

[bhdire8]

"Then move in with me." Brad offered. "I live in my own place and there's plenty of rooms and you wouldn't have to meet anyone to keep your identity private. My parents don't visit anyway so it's fairly private. I just have to call... " He paused realising his butler could be a problem. But then, old John had been wiht the family long enough he knew of his moonlighting job already. "My butler will keep his mouth shut as well. Afterall, he knew about Lacelot." He gestured towards his own outfit. "That's kept by him in fact."

"I will give him some headsup to stay away from your room. You wouldn't have to worry about not getting any shelter then." he said reaching out again wanting to touch Nick's hand, wanting to get his sincerity of the offer through. "You wouldn't have to worry about where to stay and where to get food from." There was also the concern that with his bump growing, his slender body couldn't handle as much, well, bad guys. 

[lxcttrll]

"You're sure? I don't wanna intrude on your life," Nick replied. He knew all of this was still pretty shocking and didn't want Brad to feel too overwhelmed by getting in over his head. He was somewhat impressed at the mention of a butler, considering he'd come from a lower-class family who had crammed into little apartments all his life.

"I'll probably have to put up the Ice Crawler sooner or later," Nick mumbled. He loved his alter ego and loved helping people around the city, but he knew it wasn't good for the baby. He knew his bump was pretty prominent, too, especially because he'd gotten so thin from morning sickness. "I, um. I'll probably need a doctor. I've gotten a scan done, but I haven't done any follow-up or taken any vitamins or anything."

[bhdire8]

"It would not be any intrusion at all..." Brad smiled and made a move to get closer to Nick. "you'll be a nice addition to the house... I'm rather bored with just talking with John, my butler, even though he might be insightful at times."

"You're going to pick it back up once this little one's here..." he added. "I quite like you in your suit..." He flashed Nick an "innocent" smile. Holding Nick's wrist, Brad again come to realise how much weight he'd lost. He frowned hearing his request. "I will arrange for that as soon as I can. Do you want to return to the doctor who'd done your first scan? If not, then I can have my doc coming over - she's the one taking care of my body since I acquired this power." He sat both of them down and pushed a loose strand of hair away from Nick's eyes. "In fact, how soon can you move in? I can come over to help pack your stuff... in fact, we can go right now if you're recovered enough."


[lxcttrll]

"Of course I'm gonna pick it back up, I can't just leave the city to the cops. They aren't nearly as quick with these things as I am," Nick teased. "Thanks, I made it myself. It was pretty rough at first, because I had no idea what I was doing, but I got better with it as I learned."

Nick let Brad take his wrist, shrugging weakly at the question. "I don't really remember their name, so it's probably better if your doctor looked at me. Especially if she's more used to working with superpowers. I can move in right now, I just have to get my stuff. It's not much, just a duffle bag of clothes and whatever. If you give me your address, I can meet you there."

[bhdire8]

"you made this yourself? impressive..." Brad marvelled, running his fingertip along the suit, especially at his wrists where his webs were usually shoot out. It was an almost intimate touch, where Brad could feel Nick's pulse.

Brad settled for holding Nick's wrist. He knew physical attachment wasn't for everyone, so he'd have to settle with wahtever Nick allowed him. He asked again if Nick needed an extra pair of hands to grab his stuff, but respected his decision and let him go for fetch his stuff. He received a message from Nick and had been waiting around the apartment for his new partner to settle in... his butler was briefed, and the doctor's just a call away. He paced around the living room waiting for that alert from the intercom.