#fball

me:

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔬𝔫𝔤 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔦𝔰 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔑𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔚𝔢 𝔐𝔢𝔱 𝔟𝔶 𝔏𝔬𝔯𝔡 ℌ𝔲𝔯𝔬𝔫

Derek looked up from his computer, and the rain outside had stopped. The slight distraction was gone; now he could focus on the campaign. The Stenson marketing campaign was taking longer than he expected. He still had to swing home and change for the banquet his firm was holding that night. He hated these events; before this job, he spent maybe a hundred dollars on suits for work. That was all before he got the job a month ago as a marketing executive-slash-account strategist. Before, he could get away with his boyish good looks and his cheap suits, but now he couldn’t. He was being watched by the city’s elite and his boss. 

His boss Victor Kane picked him personally from the small firm where he had worked previously. He was just trying to stay under the radar. Everyone in the corporate and marketing world knew Kane and Associates. So when Victor Kane reached out with a job proposal, Derek took two days to decide. Derek remembered when he was discussing it with his best friend, David Casey, in a darkly lit bar with black tile floors and high bar stools. 

“Come on, you want to be mediocre all your life, Der?” David asked over his beer. They were tucked into the booth farthest away from other patrons but could still hear the chatter faintly as they talked. 

“I just don’t want more attention,” Derek said with a shrug. 

David chuckled. That was Derek. Even when they were kids, Derek never liked making waves. It made sense when, as adults and with Derek’s secret.

+++

Growing up, David spent a lot of time at Derek’s house. They played on the same Little League team. Back when the city seemed brighter in the eyes of children. David’s mom worked doubles at the hospital. His father died before he was born and his mother moved away from her family a long time ago. Derek’s parents basically adopted him. The boys were inseparable and it didn’t help that they were next door neighbors. It was always one big sleepover for the boys. The Galloways moved to the neighborhood from Kentucky when Derek was a baby. David’s mom lived next door because the rent was cheap and it was a neighborhood she didn’t have to worry about for the safety of her infant son. 

+++

The hospital was blindingly white and bright and smelled like antiseptic. Derek was brought there during their high school baseball game. David didn’t even see what had happened. He was too focused on the game, he was in the field on third base while David played in the outfield. Both Derek’s parents were in the bleachers, cheering both boys proudly when Derek collapsed, clutching his stomach. Everything stopped for a moment as they all watched in slow motion  the brunette crying out in pain while holding his stomach.  In a split second, Derek’s mother was rushing to the field screaming in horror, while her husband, who was close behind her, was already on the phone with the paramedics. Derek’s mother turned to the coach with a frantic voice and informed him that David would be pulled out of the game and accompany them to the hospital. Something in the tone of her voice and the way her face twitched left no room for arguments.

Derek was being loaded into the ambulance, and her husband was sitting with Derek since he was the more composed of the two. In the car with Derek’s mom, David texted his own mother to tell her what had happened during the game. When David and Derek’s mom arrived at the emergency room, Derek was already moved to a room. They sat on the uncomfortable chairs, David still in his baseball uniform as the hours ticked by in a heavy silence, with David’s mom occasionally checking in on her son and his friend’s parents. Finally, close to midnight, a doctor called for Derek’s parents. David was barely awake but perked up slightly, fixing his green eyes to where the doctor and Derek’s parents were talking not too far from him thinking he was asleep and talking freely about the doctor’s findings.

The doctor sighed and looked at Derek’s mother, “Your son... has a rare condition,” he started, looking from Derek’s stone-faced father to his barely composed mother. “At the age of fourteen, your son has started to experience some discomfort, more than the normal teenage boy, because your son was born with both reproductive systems,” he explained.

Derek’s mother looked at the doctor blankly, her eyes flickering to something before settling on widening  shock. “So my son... Does my son have a uterus? Like he could become pregnant later in life, is that what you are telling us?” she asked in clear disbelief. 

The doctor looked at the distraught woman and nodded, “Yes, that is correct,” he said, “but on the bright side, he wouldn’t need surgery or anything. He could function as a male. His normal day-to-day life would not be disturbed.” 

Derek’s mom chuckled a little out of bitterness, “Well, thank god for that,” she said sarcastically, “He’s a medical anomaly, but at least he won’t need any surgery, "she spat while Derek’s father moved to comfort his wife.

 “But why did he collapse today?” Derek’s father asked, changing the subject back to Derek’s care 

The doctor looked at the couple. “he collapsed because his body started a kind of menstruation cycle. It is not the same as biological females, where the uterine lining sheds every month, and they bleed. His sheds, yes, but because his biology is different, it causes immense cramping,” the doctor tried to explain, “and he was slightly dehydrated. Derek will be totally fine.”

Derek’s father nodded and took his wife in his arms as she looked more hysterical with each passing word.

“Forgive her, this news is not something anyone could prepare for,” he said.

David was stunned by bits of conversation he could hear. Did he hear right? His best friend, his little brother could have a baby? How did he miss this? They have all their classes together and  he was fine at lunch and was even excited to play against their school’s rival. Did he need to remind his friend to drink more water? Plus Derek wasn’t acting like his mom did when she was on his period. Was his best friend really suffering all day, and he didn’t know? He looked at his mom, who was doing her rounds. He studied her for a good long while. Maybe she could explain what he heard later when they were alone

He was staying overnight while she was going home soon. Derek would want a friendly face when his parents told him this. 

David’s mother agreed to let Derek stay overnight with Derek’s parents. She even promised to call the school first thing in the morning, before she went to bed, to let them know David would not be there that day. 

The next morning, Derek’s parents told him what the doctor told them. At first, Derek thought that they were messing with him. He looked to David to see if it was all a big prank. They weren’t messing with him, and the dawning horror set in. 

“What do you mean I can have a baby? How is that even possible?” he asked “I’m not a freak, I'm me.” He said

“Derek Galloway you are not a freak, honey you are special” Derek’s mother soothed “But I’m not gay! Well maybe I don’t know” he said, frustration creeping into his features as he tugged at the blanket in the uncomfortable hospital bed

“That doesn’t mean that any of us love you any less,” Derek’s father said, patting his son’s thigh. They all watched Derek relax a little.

“Plus dude nothing changes you’re still little Derek,” David teased

Derek laughed “you’re four months older”

+++

David and Derek got accepted into the same college in Chicago. Derek got in on a baseball scholarship, while David got in on a partial academic scholarship. Even with their busy college lives, they manage to hang out. They got to the room together at Northwestern University. All four years of college, they established their routines and traditions. David had it so much easier than Derek, though. David was smart, and he excelled in his classes, while Derek had to juggle baseball, his academics, and keeping his secret. At times, David had to drag him to the bars because he was just so overwhelmed with trying to fit into one specific group. His baseball teammates were awesome, but a lot of his classmates in his marketing classes were also really cool. He did not want to fall into a clique. He wanted to get to know everyone. David was different; it was almost effortless for him. He didn’t have baseball like Derek but he still helped Derek sharpen his skills for the field.