Symptomatic

1

"Harry, I don't usually bring up weight when giving physicals because it fluctuates all the time, but I have noticed that you seemed to have lost a significant amount of weight since your last appointment."

Harry looked up from his swinging feet that hung off of the examination bed at the doctor, who was looking intently down at her notebook, pen in hand. She lifted her head so that the two of them were making eye contact. The young adult just looked at her, unsure of what to say. He had not been expecting that kind of information.

"I haven't lost that much weight." Harry mumbled out, furrowing his brows, unaware of the tension that had built up in his shoulders.

"Last year, you weighed around 89 kilograms, and now you're down to 82. That's well below a healthy weight for you. I know you've always been on the slim side, but you need to stay healthy."

Harry just looked at her before saying, quietly, "I've been eating a lot, though. I don't know how that happened."

He was telling the truth. Harry remembered the past few months, feeling almost insatiable and eating all the time. The other guys had laughed at him, asking if he was getting ready for hibernation, but he had genuinely felt so hungry. It reached the point that some of his friends, specifically Ethan, had whined over the topic, asking him how he was able to eat so much without gaining any weight. He had only shrugged it off, pinning it on his fast metabolism.

"I'm being honest." He stressed when catching a glimpse of the doctor's skeptical expression. "I've been eating, like, a million calories every single day. I'm just always hungry."

"Alright, Harry. I assume you've had a hectic schedule that causes you to burn more calories than you can replace. Make sure to think about your health before your work, though, if you can. When you put so much stress on your body, it can lead to burnout."

Everything else seemed pretty normal. His blood pressure was good, his heart rate was a little high, but that was blamed on the anxiety disorder he had been diagnosed with several years before. No lumps, no signs of illness. Everything was perfectly normal aside from his weight, and Harry genuinely had no idea how it happened.

Perhaps he should have brought up the other strange symptoms he'd been experiencing. The shakiness in his hands and the sweatiness. The heart palpitations, and how easy it has become for him to lose his breath, despite his physical fitness. He shrugged it off, assuming he was overthinking it. He felt fine, so it was probably just stress. No big deal.

It was their day off, aside from his doctor's visit, so he returned back to the house. Harry was feeling exhausted, as usual, and he flopped down onto the couch to do nothing, paying no attention to what the other boys were doing. He was scrolling through social media, and watching a Youtube video here and there when Josh spoke.

"Yeah, compared to a few months ago, I think everyone's doing a lot better."

Harry dropped his phone on his chest and peered up at the scene surrounding him. Everyone was in the living room.

"True," Vikk said nonchalantly as he shuffled across the sofa slightly. "Especially Harry."

"Well," Harry began, using his voice for the first time in over an hour. "It definitely helps that we don't have to bulk record all our videos now. At least we have a routine."

"But even four or five months ago, you would get so anxious over the smallest things, but now you seem to be doing much better." Vikk spoke again, justifying his words.

"And Jj hasn't been having a go at Ethan every other day, like he was before." Tobi added with a playful smirk.

"Nah, that was no big deal." Ethan said quietly.
"I kind of deserved it at the time."