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Vessel was just laying in bed, completely oblivious to the world around. He was listening to music. Letting time pass without much thought. Then he winced, grabbing III's attention. "You okay there Vess?" The taller man asked. Vessel nodded and went back to listening to music. Then it was there again. A rippling pain through his abdomen. Almost like a period cramp. What the hell? He wasn't on his period. He chalked it up to one starting soon.
He went about his day like that. Random pains in his side and abdomen. Until one last burst of pain gave way to something far worse. He felt the moment it happened. The cramps he'd been dulling out in the back of his mind got sharp, a pinch and rip feeling. And then a surge of scorching pain. Sharp and intense. He couldn't even make a sound. His eyes were wide as he lowered himself to the couch, trying desperately to catch his breath.
And oh fuck did that hurt. His breathing got uneven and labored as the pain dulled and then rose again. All focused in his lower left side. What the fuck was happening? Why was this happening? He curled in on himself and let his head fall back against the cushions. He squeezed his eyes shut and whimpered. Lord where where II, III, and IV when he needed them? He fell onto his right side, clutching at his left with both hands. This must be hell. Surely.
When II, III, and IV walked in the front door they immediately sensed something was wrong. It was too quiet. They walked through the entrance to the livingroom and saw Vessel curled up on his side. He looked like hell. II rushed over and dropped to his knees beside Vessel, stroking his hair from his face. "Vess, baby, what's going on?" He asked softly. Vessel whined and peeked his eyes open. "Hurts." He whines. II's eyebrows furl. Then he notices how Vessel is holding his side. Gently he moves Vessel's hands and lifts his shirt. More confused when he finds nothing. III and IV sit on either end of the couch. III gently holding Vessel's legs and IV stroking through his hair. Vessel grunts.
"Inside... hurts inside". He manages to push past gritted teeth. A wave of nausea washes over him and it takes all his willpower not to throw up. II gives a concerned looke to the others and then tries to gently move Vessel. "We need to get you to urgent care baby." II says only for Vessel to push him away with a groan. "No. I'll be okay."
"Clearly not" III says, squeezing Vessel's leg comfortingly. Vessel glares but closes his eyes again, taking a deeper, no less labored beath. "I'm fine." He says, trying to sit up. His side spasmed in pain and he laid right back down. A soothing hand rubbed over his side and he whined. "Well... at least let us get you something to help with the pain." II concedes. It doesn't look like moving Vessel was a good idea either. II got up to go to the kitchen and find some painkillers. "Do you know what's causing this?" IV asks, gently scratching Vessel's scalp. Vessel shrugs. "Felt like cramps. Then got worse."
II comes back with extra strength Tylenol and some water. The get Vessel propped up just enough to take the pills before laying him back down. "Would a heating pad help?" III suggests. Vessel shrugs, then nods. If this is anything like a period it would. But he didn't understand why the pain was in his side.
Three days passed like this. Vessel mostly stayed on their couch. Taking painkillers whenever he was allowed. II scheduled him a doctor's appointment. The fourth day Vessel was finally moving. Albeit slowly. And with pain. His doctors appointment was today, so he didn't have a choice. IV drove him to his appointment. And sat with him in the doctor's office as he described the pain to her. How it started and how it grew. She scheduled him for some scans and got X-rays done. Nothing showed up on the x-ray.
The fifth day was immensely better. He could breath again and walk around without too much pain. They took him to his abdominal scan. But as much as he insisted the pain was originating to the left, they scanned his right. So he gave up. They didn't find anything there either. All his organs looked healthy. And after a week his pain had stopped. He was back to normal.
----
It had been 3 months since the side pain incident. They'd gotten no answers. But his periods were worse. Which was near impressive. II took him to a new gynecologist to get checked. Since the old one said she couldn't get him in for a month. He was now sitting in the waiting room, squeezing II's hand periodically. "You're gonna do great darling. Maybe they'll find out what's wrong." And gods he hoped so.
"Miss ___". Vessel winced but responded. Getting up and following the nurse. They went over the basic questions first. Such as are you sexually active, do you do penitrative sex, so on. "You say your periods have been lasting 2 weeks?" The nurse practitioner asked. He nodded. "How are the pain levels?" He couldn't describe properly. But he got across that it hurt. After a few more questions the nurse seemed to understand. "Would you allow us to do an inter-vaginal scope?" She asked. Vessel hesitantly nodded.
Before long he was on the bed, feet in the stirrups. He tried to relax as he felt the cold scope enter him and move around. "Looks like you've got multiple cysts here." The nurse commented. Oh. He hissed as the scope turned a little to get a better look at his ovaries. "Sorry, we're almost done." The nurse said apologetically. Before he knew it they were pulling the scope out and cleaning him up. He sat up and took a deep breath before getting dressed after they left the room. He was lead back to the room he started in. "It looks like you have multiple large cysts, we'll have to do a blood draw and check back in a week." The nurse said, sending him to labs.
After the blood draw he was released. He was honestly in distress over this revelation. And the scope had been so uncomfortable. II noticed Vessel's stress and pulled him into a tight high as soon as he was close enough. "What happened? It took a long time." He asked, running his fingers through Vessel's hair. "Found cysts. Did a blood draw. Need to be back in a week." Vessel responded, nuzzling his face into II's neck. II felt his worry grow but kept an even expression. Vessel was stressed enough as it was.
---
The week flew by as Vessel wrote more music. Before he knew it III was ushering him into the car to go to his appointment. Vessel sighed and looked out the window as they drove through town. He wasn't looking forward to this. By the time III pulled up to the building Vessel was half asleep, lost in his thoughts.
They got checked in and Vessel was called back within minutes. He sat in the stale room and looked at the posters on the wall. Various pregnancy awareness pictures. Soon the same nurse practitioner walked in. "Hello ___" Vessel parroted a hello in response. "You're test results came back. Mostly average." She said setting a paper down in front of him. "But your hormones could be fluctuating." She added, sitting on her own seat and pulling up an article on her iPad. "Do you know what PCOS is?" She asked gently. He thought for a moment and nodded slowly. He'd heard of it. He'd known someone with it. Was this what it was like? "Okay. So you're familiar. It's a result of hormone imbalances. The androgens in your system being too hight. This results in multiple symptoms." She explained and he nodded along.
"Foot and ankle swelling, bloating, abnormal bleeding, acne, excessive hair growth, and weight gain are a few things to look out for." She lists. Vessel feels sick. He remembers days his feet were too swollen for his boots. And his abdomen swollen from the bloating. He'd never had horrible acne but there were moments. It seemed like no matter how much he shaved he always had new patches of hair by morning. And he had been putting on weight... slowly, but it was there... not to mention his horrendous periods. "Oh." Is all he could muster. She gave him a sympathetic smile. "To start you off well get you on a birth control. You'll skip the placebo pills and go right into the next month." She explained. He nodded numbly.
---
It wasn't until a month later, when he mentioned it to his therapist, that she pointed out the pain was most likely from a popped cyst. And everything made sense then. The reason it felt like a cramp that just kept squeezing. The reason nobody found anything. He hated that thought. That it could happen any time.
He was curled up in IV's lap playing a game on his switch. He'd explained to all of them what he had and what it meant. IV ran a hand up his side and kissed his forehead. "You should get some sleep Vess. It's been like... two days." Had it? Vessel couldn't remember. He just felt too anxious to be tired. IV stood, helping Vessel to his feet. He then guided the singer to his room. He pushed him down on the bed and wrapped his arm around his waist as he climbed in with him. "Pause the game Vess. It's sleep time." He scolded softly. Vessel sighed and turned off the game, setting it aside.
He was fast asleep in minutes. IV rubbing gentle circles into his abdomen. Today had been a flair up day. And Vessel was worse for ware because of it. It started when Vessel felt back pain, then when he couldn't get his favorite shoes on. IV felt bad for him. Vessel did absolutely nothing to deserve this pain but it was there. Ever lingering. IV pulled his phone out of his hoodie pouch and messaged the group chat.
Ivy: Rockyroad ice cream and space documentaries asap.
Drummer boy: On it.
IV put his phone back and held Vessel closer. Letting the man in front of him sleep. He knew it wasn't going to last long. It never did when Vessel was this anxious. But he knew their others would be back soon with supplies. For now, he'd just hold him tight.