Twin Bond

Note: This is a story-prompt for Ani.

$20 Patreon Directory

-

“Did you, by any chance, have some sort of devastating, gut-wrenching experience earlier this week?” Phoebe asked as she balance her phone between her ear and her shoulder.

There was a pause on the other line. “Oh,” said Tyler. “You mean my calculus final? You felt that?”

“Oh Tyler,” she sighed.

“I know, I know. I need to chill out.” He absently patted his new little belly. He had been stress eating a lot lately. God, grad school was such a shitstorm. “Twin bond,” he joked.

“Try meditating, will you? You kind of ruined my anniversary dinner with all that pointless panicking.”

Despite that they were only fraternal twins, Phoebe and Tyler swore they could feel each other’s emotions sometimes. This sense of awareness had been present their whole lives. And though this notion of connection was rather fantastical, most days Phoebe and Tyler just found it to be inconvenient. Maybe that was why they lived so far away from each other. After spending their childhoods in such close proximity, they couldn’t wait to get some space.

Tyler heard a knock at the door. “That’s Kim. Gotta go. ”

“Talk to you later. ”

-

Several weeks later, Phoebe sat in her bathroom, frowning bitterly down at her latest pregnancy test. Another negative. She and her husband had been trying to conceive for months already. They had already seen three specialists, and it had been determined that there was nothing medically stopping them from being able to conceive. So why wasn’t this working? Phoebe flung the test into the garbage pail then put her face in her hands.

-

Justin managed to cover a belch, a bit belatedly, if he was being honest.

Kim cleared her throat. “Is everything…okay, Justin?” she asked pointlessly.

“Yeah, why?” Justin asked, his voice muffled, as he was already midway through gorging his second helping of lasagna.

“It’s just that…erm…you’ve changed lately. Physically.”

Justin slowly looked up. His girlfriend’s face was pink. Yet she looked determined, a frown pulling at her lips. He wondered how long she had been gathering the courage to say all this. “You know I’ve been dieting.”

“Really, Justin?” said Kim, her eyes flickering down to the mountain of lasagna plated before him.

Now Justin was getting angry. “It’s just finals. Just a little stress weight, you know I’ll get rid of it over summer.” But that notion seemed dubious as Justin stood and could look at the large swell of his abdomen that only seemed to be growing by the day. It really was a lot. His heart sank a little. But then he steeled himself, and said, “never knew you were so shallow.”

“Justin this is about your health —”

“Yeah right!”

Now other restaurant patrons were looking their way. Were they being that loud? Justin threw some bills onto the table, feeling a bit mournful that he was abandoning the remainder of a fifteen dollar lasagna. “I’m done.” He didn’t know if he was talking to the food or to his girlfriend.

“Justin!” Kim protested.

Justin was already walking off.

-

A month later, Phoebe was staring up at her bedroom ceiling.

“We just have to keep trying,” Patrick assured, a little breathless.

Phoebe was sprawled on the bed beside him. “We’ve been trying for months,” she complained.

“We’ll get there, Phebes. And you know for some couples it can take years.”

“I know, but —”

“No but’s. You knew what to expect. We’re both healthy, and we’ll get there eventually.” He turned on the bed to lean close to her. “Besides, I can’t deny that I’m enjoying the process.”

Phoebe chuckled through his kiss. “I just can’t wait till it happens. And to tell people. My brother for one.” His kisses moved to her throat. “Oh Patrick…”

-

“Nggghhh…grrhhhh…” Tyler grunted, tensing up on his couch as it happened again. Another weird surge of pressure in his gut, causing it to push out in his already-skintight shirt. He didn’t know what the hell it was, but it had been happening erratically for at least a couple of months, usually in the evenings. “Second one tonight,” Tyler gasped out, rubbing his belly. And a belly it was. He knew it had been bad before, but he had seemed to have exploded with growth since that dinner he had walked out on Kim. He sort of looked pregnant. And pretty far along. Maybe beyond it. He stared uneasily down at his mound.

A few weeks later, Tyler was driving. He hated the holidays. Well, he liked the break from University. But he hated how flippantly his family treated him, how his mother took every opportunity to scrutinize and critique him. She was sure to have a lot to say about him this year.

Tyler had parked and was halfway out of his car when his cell phone started ringing, but then happened again. “Fuuhhh…gnhhhhhh…” The frequency of the growth spurts only seemed to be increasing. He swore, he was starting to look like an elephant. He hadn’t heard from Kim, but he couldn’t exactly blame her. He hugged his belly the best he could, as it continued to inch outward, sweat pouring down his brow. He swore he looked bigger than his mother had in those pictures when she was due with him and Phoebe. Far bigger. It was getting really weird. He should probably see a doctor.

Tyler vaguely realized that his cell phone was ringing. He managed to answer while leaning on his car.

“Honey, where are you?” his mother asked. “Everyone’s waiting to eat dinner. Would you believe I just caught Patrick and your sister in the closet?” She giggled.

“Ew, mom. TMI,” Tyler responded breathlessly, still absently rubbing his orb with his gloved hand. He could feel that his jacket was no longer covering him properly, not only severely tight to the point of discomfort, but starting to slide up over the mound. “I’m outside. Be right in.” He gulped.

“Well hurry up!”