Tapeworm

== Meta ==
Timing: December 2018 (within a few days of their unauthorized Drift)
Setting: Hong Kong Shatterdome; Triplets' quarters, Medical
== Text ==
Hu wakes up with a sore stomach, but the feeling's distant so he elbows the leg closest. He feels Jin wake up and see that he does so with a grimace.
They look to Cheung.
He sleeps on, slightly separate from them and beginning to curl around his middle. What they can see of his skin was borderline grey and beaded with sweat, and the lines of his jaw and eyes quietly scream ‘PAIN’.
Hu and Jin catalog everything and each grab an arm, hoisting Cheung off their crash pad and to his feet.
Jin spins the door open with his foot and Hu leads them out.
Cheung flinches at the light and keeps trying to drop in a ball and clutch his stomach. It makes dragging him to Medical interesting, to say the least.
“Good Heavens you look terrible,” says Setsuko. “Over here. What’s wrong?”
They heave Cheung onto a bed and Setsuko snatches her kit.
“I woke up with a sore stomach,” Hu reports.
“And then I did,” adds Jin.
“So we knew it must be Cheung.”
“Mhm.”
Cheung batts away her penlight.
“Pupils responsive,” Setsuko calls. “Anything else, or did you come straight here?”
“Straight here,” says Jin.
“He- we were fine last night,” Hu continues.
“Heart rate’s a little slow – Jin, grab those sunglasses please – 60/60,” she calls. “Have any of you had your appendix out?”
“Our what?” asks Hu.
Setsuko pauses, absolutely stunned. “Holy shit, I can’t believe you’re not dead.”
“What’s an appendix?” asks Jin.
“Temperature’s a little cool!” she calls. “A vestigial organ that can get infected. If left untreated, it can burst, and then you’re dead in like, two days.” She thinks for a moment. “Shakespeare died of a burst appendix, actually.”
“It’s too early for long words,” says Jin.
“Evolution?”
They nod.
“If something’s ‘vestigial’, it’s an evolutionary leftover. Like a T-Rex’s arms. Xia? Ultrasound please!”
“So you think his appendix’s infected,” says Hu.
“Probably? This isn’t influenza or the puke-y flu-,”
Cheung shoves himself over – Setsuko picks up a garbage can – and throws up.
“Really?” says Jin.
Setsuko pokes Cheung’s sunglasses back into place and steps out of Xia’s way. “And he wouldn’t be this clammy from constipation.”
“But there’s a bunch of other stuff in there too,” says Hu, “Liver, stomach, kidneys… intestine…”
“He’d be complaining – as much as Cheung complains – of back pain if a kidney was acting up. But you’re right, it could be a gallstone, cancer – pancreatic, liver, or stomach – might be a tape worm… Have any of you been more tired than usual?” Setsuko actually knows the answer to that– their last physical was a week ago.
Two sets of wide eyes stare back. 
“You dorks, of course it’s not a tapeworm, we’d have caught it ages before it got this bad.” Setsuko feels bad for scaring them but also a little vindictive. “D’you guys want me to call Min down?”
Twin nods.
“K, I’ll got do that.” She asks Xia, “Anything yet?”
“Just started.”
Setsuko nods, dumps the bucket in the sterilizer, and plunks down behind the desk, looking for something with Min's number and lo! the calendar--“Cheung?” 
Cheung grunts.
“On a scale of ‘I’ll be fine’ to ‘I’m going to die please shoot me’?”
“Shoot me.”
“Is it on your left or is it everywhere and moving?”
“Second one.”
“Have you felt any pain in your leg?”
Hu replies, “His right leg – the lower parts – are a bit tinglier.”
Setsuko hides her face in her hands and trembles.
Hu speaks up again: “Are you okay?”
Setsuko uncovers her face and fixes her hair. “Yes, sorry, I have to make a call.” She hurries to the phone in the storage room and closes the door.
“Anything?” asks Hu.
Xia continues to frown. “Nothing so far.”
“Cheung has to throw up,” reports Jin.
Xia gets the wand out of the way. “There’s a bucket by your feet.”
Jin finds it and holds it close.
Cheung throws up again.
Jin nearly did too.
“If you’re quick, you can grab the other one,” says Xia.
Jin sprints to the sterilizer, grabs the now-clean bucket and tosses in the dirty one.
“Cheung, I can’t find out what’s wrong if you keep getting your hands in the way,” Xia scolds. 
Hu kneels beside the bed and catches his wrists.
“Thank you very much,” Xia mutters.
Jin only has to run back once more before Setsuko calls, “Hey, Xia? Can you come here for a minute?”
“Still looking,” Xia replies.
“I know what’s wrong, you can stop.”
“Don’t we need an image?”
“You’re not going to find any- can you just come here?”
Xia makes a face, but replaces the wand and hands a rag to Jin. “You can clean up the gel if you’re so inclined, I’ll be back in a sec.”
They meet at a sink where Xia strips the gloves and tries scrubbing off the laytex feeling.
Setsuko whispers something, trying really hard not to laugh.
Xia freezes, tries not to look at Cheung, and whisperes two words back.
Fighting a smile, Setsuko shakes her head.
"Nurse Miyahira, Nurse Xia, what seems to be the problem?" asks Doctor Tong.
"Ranger Wei Tang Cheung, male, 19, presented with severe," Setsuko presses her lips together.
"Abdominal pain," finishes Xia.
"Did the ultrasound find anything?"
"About that…" says Setsuko. "May I speak with you for a moment?"
Doctor Tong joins them at the sink and Setsuko explains the situation, punctuating the evidence with giggles.
Xia turns away and shakes.
"Really," says Doctor Tong.
Setsuko nods.
They snicker.
Doctor Tong wins the fight for composure and strides over. "Rangers Wei Jin, Wei Hu, your brother's going to be fine."
"Fine?" demands Jin.
Cheung's trying really hard just to die.
"/That's going to be fine?"
Doctor Tong nods. "Yes, he will. Rangers, your brother is suffering from menstrual cramps."
Category:Ficlet
Category:The Drift
Category:Cheung
Category:Jin
Category:Hu
Category:Xia
Category:Setsuko
Category:Tong
Category:Min (mention)
Category:Cheung (ficlet)
Category:Jin (ficlet)
Category:Hu (ficlet)
Category:Setsuko (ficlet)
Category:Xia (ficlet)
Category:Tong (ficlet)
Category:Hong Kong Shatterdome 2018
Category:Hong Kong Shatterdome Medical
Category:Hong Kong Shatterdome (setting)
Category:Ficlets in need of language stuff
Category:Pages in need of links