It was 8 pm, right after dinner...

II

They made it to the hospital without any major incidences, Eddy half supporting half carrying Brett through their appartment complex down to the side of the road where their uber was waiting.
The uber took them directly to the emergency entrance of the Singapore General Hospital, the closest to their flat.

Eddy immediately rushed to the emergency registration after carefully sitting Brett down on a bench in the waiting room. He had Brett's health insurance card with him, and all the personal information about Brett he'd need for the registration he knew by heart anyway, down to Brett's blood type.

Brett looked around, feeling slightly better than back in the appartment. The dizziness and difficulties breathing had mostly worn off during their ride through Singapore, the evening air blowing through the car window helped clearing his head a bit. Eddy holding his hand the entire time and brushing his thumb over the back of his hand might have helped too.

He nearly felt a bit stupid for coming here now, seeing all those sick or injured people in the emergency room. There was a kid crying on the top of his lungs with what seemed to be a broken arm, a middle aged man with a heavily bleeding thumb, a woman in labour and like a dozen people more, waiting to be treated.

But since they were already here, he might as well have a thorough check-up, he thought, leaning back against the wall behind his bench, closing his eyes and waiting for Eddy's return.

It took Eddy ten minutes to fill out all the forms and explain Brett's situation to the nurse at the desk. He came back and sat down next to Brett, looking at him with concern.

"How do you feel?", he asked, gaining Brett's attention, who didn't even notice he was back.

"Better, quite ok actually", Brett said and tried an encouraging smile, hoping it might ease Eddy's worries. Brett didn't like to see Eddy concerned and knowing he was the cause didn't help. "What did they say?"

"We have to wait until a doc's available. They'll probably do some check ups and we'll see from there." Eddy brushed his hand softly against Brett's arm. "Do you need anything? Water..., coffee is probably a bad idea, it might alter your heart rate and stuff during the check up."

"No, I'm good, just stay here?", Brett asked almost shy but trying his best to hide it. Eddy smiled, knowing Brett had troubles showing his weak and needy side.

" 'Course!"

They sat there in almost peaceful silence and considering that this was an emergency room of a pretty major hospital in a very big city, they did a pretty decent job closing out their busy surrounding.

Brett eventually lost track of time, just keeping his eyes closed, half leaning against the wall, half against Eddy's left side until some nurse came up to them and called Brett's name.

"Do you need a wheelchair? Or can you walk?", she asked.
"I think I can manage."

Eddy made sure to hold him tight though while they made their way to an examination room, where they waited for another twenty minutes until finally a middle aged doctor named Feng showed up. At least Brett could lay down on one of those hard hospital beds, for which he was quite grateful for.

"So, let's see what we have here," the doctor said after they'd exchanged greetings, "what happened?"
"I... I felt dizzy after we had dinner and fell."

Dr. Feng started typing away on the computer, nodding at Brett signaling him to go on, so Brett did.

"I had difficulties breathing, my vision was blurry..."

"Also his pulse was very weak, he was sweaty but felt cold at the same time", Eddy added. For a stranger's ear he might have sounded calm, but Brett could hear the slight tension in Eddy's voice.

"Mhm", the doctor typed at lightning speed, "anything else?"

"I felt nauseaus. Couldn't really recover . That's why we came here."

Dr. Feng nodded. "Has that happened before?" he asked.

"No, not like this", Brett answered.

"Did you take any medications after you fell and before you came here?"

"He took a glucose I gave him", Eddy answered, "Thought it might help. He took no meds though."

The doctor nodded again, finished typing and turned around to get some medical gear out of the cupboard at the wall.

"We'll measure your blood pressure, take a blood sample and send it to the lab for examination.", he explained while ripping the band of the blood pressure meter open to wrap around Brett's upper arm.

"Any allergies? Did you eat anthing special or funnily smelling for lunch or dinner?", Feng asked, while the meter around Brett's arm started to tighten. He took out his stethoscope, rucked up Brett's shirt a bit and listened to Brett's heart and breathing.

"No allergies, as far as I know", Brett replied, "don't think I ate something bad..."

"Maybe the fried rice I made was too spicy?", Eddy commented, looking at Brett with a mischevious grin. Brett just stuck his tongue out.

The doc chuckled. "Too spicy food actually can be a problem, but based on your friends reaction, I don't think that was the actual cause." He stared at the beeping blood pressure thingy while putting away his stethoscope.

"Your blood pressure is a bit low, but it's not too bad. How do you feel now, Mr. Yang?"

Brett always felt a bit old when people adressed him like that. He shrugged.

"I think a lot better actually."

"Good!" Both Dr. Feng and Eddy smiled. "But we'll still send in your blood. Just to make sure."

And with that said, the doctor put a needle in Brett's vein to extract three tubes of blood to send in. He had to try three times until he actually hit a mark though, making both Brett and Eddy scrunch up their faces, one in pain and slight disgust (Brett didn't like needles) and one in sympathy for his suffering friend. At least Eddy had a lot of fun with the with dinosaurs coated plaster Brett got.

After Dr. Feng was done, he asked if Brett needed anything and left the room after he got a "No, thank you." They were left to wait for the results, the doctor suggesting Brett should just lay there and rest as good as he could.

"So, you're really feeling better?", Eddy asked, slumping down on a stool next to the hospital bed. It was getting late and Brett could see the tiredness seeping through Eddy's slightly less worried face.

"Yeah, I actually do."

"So that was not a trick to get us home faster?", Eddy joked, but with a serious undertone.

Brett stretched both his arms and yawned loudly, before he answered: "No, really. Feeling much better. Don't think it's anything. Told you we shouldn't come here. We could have used this time to practice."

"Or play smash bros.", Eddy quipped. With Brett talking more with a much less weaker voice, he started to relax a little.

"Or that", Brett agreed with a smile, "you didn't bring your switch by any chance? Or mine? We could still do that to pass time." A hopeful glimmer appeared in Brett's eyes, making Eddy laugh.

"How could I? I was busy carrying you, heavy monkey. Seriously, how can you be so small and yet so heavy?"

"It's because of all the bubble tea we drink. I'm dense you know" Eddy snorted at that last comment.

"I think you need a diet. So I can carry you around better."

"I think you just need to get stronger." Brett stuck his tongue out again. He felt a warmth spreading through him on the thought of Eddy carrying him around. What a great friend he had.

Eddy flexed his upper arm at that. "I'm pretty strong though, do we need to redo an arm wrestling match so I can proof it to you?"

"We might. But I'm thinking about a diet if that makes you shut up", Brett replied before yawning again.

Eddy smiled and touched Brett's hand lightly. "I think we should do as the doctor said, let you rest. You can try to sleep a bit if you want."

"The lights are so bright in here, how am I supposed to sleep?"

"You'll manage, with all that yawning."

"Hey, we did practice many hours today."

"Not 40 though."

"Nope, never good enough!", Brett pitched up his voice, immitating a pretty convincing tiger mum.

"Haha, of course not", Eddy chuckled, but his next words took on a more serious note: "You really should try to relax now though, I'll leave you be."

For a second, Brett wanted to stretch out his hands and hold Eddy back, but he kept himself still, watching Eddy get up and quietly opening the door. "I'll be back soon, try to get some sleep", he said before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

Brett sighed. What a shitty evening, he thought and sighed again. With nothing to do and even his phone being with Eddy because he was the one getting it for him when they had left the appartment in a hurry, he just closed his eyes and tried to rest for real. Might as well, he thought not the first time today.