The Defiant Claim (The Claim: Book 2) LGBT

Chapter 27 - Mik (Part 3)

Song: "Start Again" by Red

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Mik stared harder at Sam. What was that supposed to mean? Klinefelter Syndrome?

Opening his blotchy red-rimmed eyes, Sam swallowed and studied his reaction before closing his eyes again. Anxiety leaked out of his pores and saturated his scent. "I'm sure you noticed the size of my... um... sex organs... since you change my diapers..."

It was Mik's turn to swallow now. He'd rather not think about that unpleasant daily routine, but it had to be done since he insisted on taking care of Sam. He couldn't call someone to come change him every few hours. He did notice that Sam's assets were really small and chose not to comment on them. "Yeah... I figured they came in all sizes or that you were still growing or something..."

He trailed off, the conversation making his skin crawl as he pulled away from Sam. The air was too heavy with his pungent anxious musk. It made Mik's stomach roil.

"Well, I'm not." Sam sighed, looking away with a hint of pink in his cheeks. "A sign of Klinefelter's is small testes, half the size of normal males, thus making me infertile."

"Testes?"

Sam shot him an irritated look before his features relaxed. "Seriously? Testes is short for testicles." Seeing that Mik was still drawing a blank, he added, "Your balls, dude."

"Oh... I never had a formal education, remember," Mik grumbled, reaching for the mugs again and offering Sam the straw to sip some tea. When Sam was done, he set it on the table and gulped down some of his own warm tea. "I never bothered to look at other males' junk anyway. Didn't interest me. So is that all that Klinefelter's means? You have small balls and that makes you infertile?"

Sam raked his teeth over his bottom lip. "Not exactly."

Mik took another gulp of tea and set his mug down. Turning to Sam, but still keeping a few inches of distance between them, he asked, "So what else does it mean?"

"Um..." Sam looked down at his feet at the end of the bed as anxiety began to pour off him again. "Th-The thing is..." He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes. "Shit. How am I going to explain this when you haven't taken biology?"

"I'm not stupid," Mik grunted, looking away and folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against the bed's headboard.

Sam sighed. "I didn't say you were. Do you know what chromosomes are?"

Mik growled softly: he hated feeling stupid. "No."

"How about DNA? Know anything about that?"

"A little. It's the building blocks of our bodies, right?"

"Yes, that's right." Sam's anxiety was lifting as he delved into his explanation—taking his attention off himself and onto explaining something he understood. "Chromosomes are part of our DNA. Our biological sex is determined by a pair of chromosomes. Everyone inherits one from their mother and one from their father. They are labeled as X and Y. Everyone has an X-chromosome from their mother and they get either an X or a Y-chromosome from their father. Females have two X-chromosomes and males have an XY pairing. Do you understand so far?"

"Yeah."

"Klinefelter Syndrome is different." Sam raked his teeth over his bottom lip. "It's a chromosomal mutation. Instead of having two, we have three chromosomes."

Confusion wrapped around Mik as he tilted his head and furrowed his brows. "So... What does that mean?"

Sam heaved a sigh. "It means I have an extra X-chromosome. XXY. X is the female chromosome. The extra one conflicts with the male, Y, one. I'm not fully female, but not fully male either. I'm... in-between."