It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

IV

It took another three hours until they were able to take a late night taxi back to their appartment. Brett was feeling much better after the rest in the hospital, but both him and Eddy were very tired nonetheless and went to bed straight after stepping into their flat, mumbling a low "'Night." to each other before heading into their rooms.

The next morning started pretty normal, with Brett waking up first of course and Eddy still sleeping soundly. He went to the bathroom, took a quick shower and brushed his still unbrushed teeth (yesterday got late alright?). Refreshed and fully awake, he headed out to get some Baozi, two filled with meat and egg and two with sweet red beans for breakfast from the foodstall at the corner, knowing how much Eddy loved them. He considered buying bubbletea, but decided to brew a pot of coffee at home instead.

Brett just took two cups out of the cupboard, when Eddy came out of his room, looking dishveled and still very sleepy. "Smells nice", he yawned.
"You bet it is! Get your gears going and come eat. We have work to do", Brett said, while placing the cups and the coffee pot on their dining table.
"Some of us need time to wake up after those long hours at the hospital", was Eddy's comment to that, stretching his whole body "But you sure are full of energy." He stepped closer to Brett.
"How do you feel? Did you sleep ok?", Eddy asked, his tone having that serious note again, which was so untypical for him. He looked Brett up and down.
Brett looked back at him, his gaze softening. "I'm fine, really", he replied "At least I got out of bed at a reasonble time and got us breakfast even. So get your ass moving and wash up."
"Ok, mum."
"I got us Baozi."
"What??", Eddy yelled, ten times more awake than before. Brett laughed. "Your mum knows what you like, you know."
Eddy carefully opened the plastic bag on the table, revealing the steaming goodness. "Hmmm, you're the best!", Eddy hummed with his eyes closed, taking in the smells.
"A way to thank you for yesterday!"
"No need to thank me, you know that. You would have done the same."
"Yeah, but I didn't have to", Brett remarked, still smiling at Eddy, "Now go get dressed already, I'm starving."
"Good."
"Good that I'm starving?"
"Good sign that you are, yes", Eddy said, before walking off.

After Eddy returned, they munched away on their steamed buns, happily taking sips of their coffees now and then. "I reckon green tea goes better with Baozi", Eddy said after a while, his mouth half full. "So next time you get up before me and brew a pot then", Brett replied, taking a bite himself. Eddy shook his head. "You know that's impossible. Coffee's fine too of course. Just wanted to make a cultured comment."
Brett chuckled at that. "If you want to be cultured, you should learn not to speak with your mouth full." Eddy demonstrately chewed and swallowed, before he said: "Thanks though, it's a real treat. I haven't had them in ages."
"I think we had some last week."
"See? Ages!"
They both laughed and Eddy took his second bun.
"So", he began after finishing half of it, "a Gastroenterologist, huh."
Brett nodded. "Apparently."

They had gone home yesterday without a clear result. Brett had gotten some vitamines to take and a recommondation to go see a Gastroenterologist, someone specialized in digestive organs. Brett had found that a bit funny, because he didn't really experience any digestive problems, nausea set aside. But Dr. Liu had told them, that some of the symptoms Brett had could be related to some illnesses concerning his digestive system. "If your digestion doesn't work, a lot of things in your body won't after some time", he'd said and also told them to take it easy for a while. "Your body is not a machine. If something's not going a hundred percent, you should at least take more time to relax to relieve the strain on your body." A sentence Brett really didn't want to hear. They had so many projects going on it wasn't even funny and work couldn't wait. How should he relax with all the things he wanted to do in mind? Not forgetting practice on top of that.

"We should do something about our workload", Eddy said slowly, as if he'd read Brett's thoughts, "That's something we can change ourselves as quick as possible."
"Don't you think those guys overreacted?", Brett asked, a tad annoyed.
Eddy looked at him, catching Brett's sight.
"I don't wanna find out, Brett." They stared at each other and Brett knew Eddy meant every word he said. He also knew there would be little to no chance for him to convince Eddy that they should just keep going like they always had.
"Alright, what do you suggest then? We can't just stop, we'll have no income and we have bills and salaries to pay."
"I know that." Eddy warmed his hand at his coffee mug, although it was getting hot already as the morning went by. They'd have to crank up the AC soon.
"I think we can hire another Editor, so Editor-san has less to do and we can just pass on the raw data without having to look at it for too long before sending it to them."
Brett deliberated on it and nodded slowly.
"We could also get someone like a producer or so", Eddy continued more confidently, seeing Brett being more or less on board with his train of thoughts, "So we don't have to think about video ideas and stuff. That person could also contact venues or people we want to collab with, so that would be a huge amount of work gone."
"We'll have way too much free time like this", Brett sighed, but wasn't actually too opposed of the idea. He knew they had some budget for hiring new people. And they'd have more time to practice with more work off their shoulders. Many times they had to juggle all the things they wanted to do and practice was, along with their free time, one of the first things they'd cut back. Constantly having to set priorities was also tiring, so dividing the workload could help in many ways.