It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

III

Eddy came back ten minutes later, not being able to leave Brett alone for any longer. It made him giddy not seeing how his friend was doing, him being at the hospital after all. With a bottle of orange juice in his hand, he quietly stepped in Brett's room, quickly glanced at the sleeping person on the bed before stepping closer and sitting down on the stool, trying to make as little sound as possible.

Then he just sat there, looking at Brett's peaceful sleeping face.

I really hope it's nothing, Brett. Eddy thought. He knew Brett wasn't the strongest when it came to physical health, but he also wasn't just one who fainted out of the blue. High fever, yes. Clocked up nose and heavy coughing from time to time, yes. Nausea after a couple of drinks, of course. But not this. And not Brett.

Noticing Brett shivering a bit, Eddy got up to look for a blanket. He was a bit reluctant to just open random cupboards in a medical examination room though, so he shed his black practice hoodie and laid it over Brett's upper body, before he went to find a nurse to ask for a blanket.

Waiting for the results to come in took forever. Occationally Dr. Feng or some nurse would come and check on Brett, only to find him sleeping and Eddy slouching on that stupidly small stool, his head resting next to Brett's right side on his own folded arms, napping as well. After two hours or so, Dr. Feng came back with a clipboard, announcing his entrance with a loud "So!", waking up both Brett and Eddy.

Brett rubbed his eyes and yawned, Eddy mimicked his actions and straightened his sore back he got from the weird sleeping position he was in. "What have you got, Doc?", Brett asked while trying to sit up a bit.

"Everything looks pretty normal", Dr. Feng started, "Your blood values look fine, you don't seem to have any iron deficiency. Maybe we can give you a bit more vitamin b, d and c, just to support your system a bit."

"Doesn't sound too bad, right?", Brett exclaimed and slapped Eddy on the lower part of his back since he couldn't reach his shoulder, "Told you not to worry!"

"Actually", the doctor said. Both boys returned their attention to him. Eddy didn't like Dr. Feng's tone, it sounded too loaded, the last two syllables spoken too slowly for it to be just an addition to what he was saying before. "It is not out of the ordinary that young people sometimes faint or feel a bit weak and low energy from time to time. That it took you more than five to ten minutes to fully recover though concernes me a bit. I've hoped we'd see more in your blood test result, but according to that you seem to be a healthy young man." He looked at Brett and shrugged his shoulders, like he didn't exactly know where to go from there.

"So maybe I am a healthy young man with a bit lack of sleep", Brett suggested. "Are you not sleeping enough then?", the doc asked. "More than this fella here", Brett pointed at Eddy.
"I'm not the one who ended up on the floor", Eddy remarked.
"Do you have any psychological stress? Or stress at work?"

Brett tried to recall the last couple of weeks, while Eddy answered first: "Not more than the usual. We are YouTubers, so we film and upload five videos a week and because we're also classical musicians, we have to practice. But we've done that like the last five years or so now."
"We definitely had more stressful times", Brett agreed, thinking back to the year when they were both working in their respective orchestras and edited videos for Twoset in every free minute they could spare.
"It sounds like a lot though", the doc said.
"We have a team, doing stuff like editing and helping us with our clothing brand", Eddy added.

"Ok, so how many hours do you work, sleep and have freetime?"

Brett tried to do the math in his head. Luckily, it wasn't that fuzzy anymore, so he was able to give an answer within a reasonable time.
"Maybe work seven to nine hours, practice two to three and sleep like five to six hours?", he looked at Eddy, who nodded in confirmation.

"Doesn't sound too bad indeed", Dr. Feng mumbled, clearly having had worse times himself. "But it's not nothing. Maybe you should consider to cut down your work and/or practice time a bit and give yourself more rest. I'll consult with a colleague of mine about your situation, so we have a second opinion. I don't like to let you go home yet, not knowing, what could have caused this."

Eddy nodded, clearly liking the idea, but Brett thought this was a bit too much. "I actually feel a lot better after having rested and slept. Can't you let us go and we just come back if it happens again?"
The doctor patted Brett's shoulder, smiled a bit and said: "We don't want this to happen again though, right? It won't take too long, just stay here for a bit, I'll be back in a minute." With that, he left the room.

They both looked at each other. Eddy sighed. "Seems to be mysterical, whatever you have."
"Sorry, man", Brett said a bit down. He had hoped they'd be here for an hour or two, have a quick check up and leave the place with a clear result of that it was nothing. "I'm still positive it's nothing."

"You know you don't have to be sorry right? It's not your fault or anything. I'm just glad it doesn't seem to be something super severe", Eddy laid a hand on Brett's arm, "but I'd like to have a second opinion as well. So let's just see what they have to say."
"Didn't know it was you they're examining", Brett said to that.
"I'm the one who has to take care of you when you're sick", Eddy stated matter of factly, but with a smirk on his face, "Rather do that with a hundred percent succes rate."
Brett chuckled. "Sorry when I'm a burden. I...", he started, but got cut off by Eddy: "You seriously have to stop saying sorry all the time, will you?" He looked at him, sternly, which only made Brett want to laugh. It was so out of character for Eddy to speak in such a serious tone with him. Of course Eddy saw Brett's puffed up cheeks and that "pfff" out of Brett's mouth didn't go unnoticed either.

"I mean it!"

"Ok, ok, fine."

They smiled at each other. Eddy picked up the orange juice he bought earlier, luke warm now instead of the refreshing cold when he got it. "Want some?", he offered.
"Sure. Thanks."
Eddy opened the bottle for Brett and handed it over.

"You know", Brett said after taking a gulp and passing the bottle back, "I remember that time when YOU had to go to the hospital clearly."

Eddy furrowed his brows. "When was that again?" "Forgetting problems", Brett mumbled, for which he received a friendly slap. "Bro Taiwan, don't you remember? We had that disgusting food at a buffet and you ate bad fish or something."

Eddy tried to recall those events and when he finally did, he slapped his forehead. "Oh god, why are you reminding me? I've cleared my mind from this shit and you just had to mention that. I've still got PTSD just thinking about it!"
Brett laughed loudly. "We have video evidence even."
"You want to see it, right?", Eddy read between the lines.
"It'd certainly make me feel better", Brett said, looking at Eddy with big, pleading eyes. Eddy sighed again (any more sighs and he'd age ten years on this one damned evening in the hospital) and pulled out his phone to look for the video on YouTube.
They both laughed till their eyes teared up.

"Good to see you in such a good mood", Dr. Feng said, stepping into the room while they were still laughing about the image of Eddy laying on a hospital bed, drip attached and all. Another medical professional followed after him and waved at Brett and Eddy (Corona was still a thing, so no direct contact), introducing himself as Dr. Liu, an Endocrinologists, who dealt with hormones and stuff.

"Dr. Feng told me about your case", he started, "As he said, it's not uncommon for young people to experience what you have, so no worries for now. We just want to make sure it's not something we have to start special treatment for. There are some diseases with similar symptoms which require treatment as soon as possible, so we're just going to check those through. Is that ok with you?"

Both Brett and Eddy nodded. And with that, they started a series of check ups to find out more about Brett's illness.